Editor's Note

Abstract

With increasing demands and proliferation of aerial platforms, the requirements of air power have increased manifold in the last decade. The types of aircraft, both manned and unmanned, have multiplied, the air space has become dense and congested, and the aerial platforms of today are able to perform a variety of roles and tasks, with some platforms even being designed to perform specific roles. Airpower in all its facets, military, commercial, training, surveillance, disaster relief, logistics, medical, and agriculture, to name a few, has not only become an inescapable but also an inalienable part of our daily lives. The escalating costs of modern aerial platforms like the F-35, Su-57, Rafale, J-20, and J-31 fighter aircraft have placed increasing demands on national defence budgets that have struggled to keep pace with slow rates of economic growth coupled with rising inflation. India has its own concerns, faced with a two-nation threat and the increasing demands of indigenisation or ‘aatmanirbharta’ that are yet to pick up the desired pace.