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Angad Singh Profile picture
Angad Singh
@zone5aviation
If it flies, I'm interested. Air power, baby!
Mar 16, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
@JA_Maolankar 'Complete autarky' is not a strawman, it is a narrative with legs in Delhi and among the talking heads around here. And I don't see @pranaykotas advocating the status quo anywhere. He lays out pretty clear actionable policy recommendations, nought to do with 'second class'. @JA_Maolankar @pranaykotas He highlighted lessons from China — which even the atmanirbharta/vishwaguru absolutists hold in some esteem. Is China, 5x our GDP, second class?
Jun 24, 2021 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Profoundly disagree with all but the central thrust of this piece.

1. Theatre commands by themselves cannot force or enforce jointness and integration of the services. 2. Hiving off air defence and maritime commands flies in the face of jointness anyway, and gives the lie to the notion that this is anything other than an exercise in carving up the pie.
Mar 23, 2021 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Not just vigil though! They flew armed.

The Alizé had been modified for Matra SNEB pods (under @arunp2810’s clearance as CO Hansa, IIRC) shortly before they headed to Madurai under Cdr RK Singh. And the rocket pods did see some action! Photo via Cdr (ret.) Arun Kumar. They took some heat in return too — per Cdr (ret.) DD Naik, “During this period an aircraft flown by Lt JJ Nijhavan was shot at by LMG while on finals to Jaffna. The bullets hit the empty bomb bay and went out of the centre coaming of the canopy. Pilot & Observer unharmed!”
Oct 5, 2020 • 44 tweets • 5 min read
“Strategic autonomy” finds explicit mention in the official @IAF_MCC video for Air Force day. A few seconds later, international exercises and cooperation. “Innovate, integrate and intimidate” are the closing words of this years IAF presentation.
Sep 30, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Imagine being a bright young 20-something, Bachelor's/Master's in a technical field. Your folks want you to do the conventional thing, get a well paying desk job, settle down, marry, have kids. You have many such opportunities. But you want to do something for national security. You answer whatever clarion call is in vogue at the time. The Ministry/Service wants XYZ high end mil-tech problem solved. A newcomer to the field, with little to no financial/institutional backing, you make the grade. This is huge. Your life is about to change.
Jul 29, 2020 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Full of devastating quotes from an unimpeachable writer — “over the past 70 years, even the PMs of India haven’t been able to easily remove corrupt IAS officers, leave alone the incompetent ones” “Our elected politicians have no real powers to deliver their election commitments. Our democracy is thus being choked from within – by the unaccountable and ultra-powerful IAS.”
Jul 26, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Lovely feature on Sqn Ldr DS Majithia by @VishnuNDTV. India’s oldest fighter pilot turns 100 tomorrow! Looking forward to the big story in @ReviewVayu too. ndtv.com/india-news/the…
Jun 14, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Oddly incorrect/incomplete analysis there. Kashgar is straight up wrong and the map misses Hotan — two bases that should be giving everyone sleepless nights. The often-repeated high-altitude limitation at the other airports is overstated if not wrong — long runways address that. Yes, long runways do not account for increased wear and tear on tyres and brakes, but this is 'Short, Sharp War' China we're talking about. No one is counting on sustained ops from these fields, particularly when other bases comfortably hold most of North and East India at risk.
May 27, 2020 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
The old and the new. 18 Sqn “Flying Bullets” last flew the MiG-27ML Flogger (aka “Bahadur”), received its first @HALHQBLR Tejas LCA today. ImageImageImageImage 18 Squadron was raised in Apr 65 flying Gnats at Ambala under Wg Cdr Aubrey Michael. They could not fight the war that year but some pilots were sent to other Gnat units, and Sqn Ldr KC Khanna was even awarded a Vayusena Medal (bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/4…).
Feb 23, 2020 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
I’ve often lamented the sorry state of India’s aerospace museums — and the @IAF_MCC museum at Palam has borne the brunt of my vitriol. No longer! So much has changed, and more is planned. I am excited for the future!

Starting with this sublime Lysander, bearing 1 Sqn markings. But today I focused on the jets. Near the Lysander stands this beautifully restored Thunderbolts Hunter (precursor to @Suryakiran_IAF)
Jan 24, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Big news. @IAF_MCC An-32 flying on 10% biofuel blend landed at Leh around 0930h this morning. This biofuel demonstrator first flew in Dec 2018, has been notching milestones since. IAF targeting all aircraft on biofuel blend by 2021.

(representative photo by Rohan at Wikipedia) Image @IAF_MCC Older thread on the biofuel demonstrator's first flight:
Jan 15, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Standing room only as @JZarif and @SunjoyJ start one of the most awaited sessions of the day. #Raisina2020 Image Interesting. @JZarif says that the Obama admin slow rolled clearance for @Airbus to sell airliners to Iran after JCPOA for seven months in 2016, while the same clearance was issued to @Boeing in two months.
Oct 20, 2018 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
These read suspiciously like "too big to fail" complaints. Are we seriously using the Air India argument to justify HAL's continued (non-)performance? HAL is inefficient and overstaffed. This is a fact. At appx 31,000 employees, ca. $2.4bn revenue, and 40 aircraft TOTAL production per year, it is a JOKE. That is a revenue per employee of $77,420, and a staggering 775 employees per aircraft built.