30/04/2020 Indian Ocean Air Power: An Ocean of Air Forces – Peter Layton – The Central Blue

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Indian Ocean Air Power: An Ocean of Air Forces –

Peter Layton

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Strategy: The
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 Reinterpreting
Douhet:
The Indian Ocean has become an area of geostrategic competition.
Appreciating the
As Australia is an Indian Ocean country, it is incumbent our national
Offensive
security community to understand the strategic and military
Character of
dynamics of the region. The diverse air power capabilities within the
Cyberwarfare –
region are an important aspect of those dynamics. Over a series of
Douglas Holmshaw
three posts, Peter Layton provides a starting point for readers to
begin to understand Indian Ocean air power. In this first post of the
 #BookReview –
series, Layton provides an overview of some of the capabilities of
Lectures of the Air
seven regional countries from Africa and Asia.
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School and
The Indian Ocean is changing. A new balance of power is emerging
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as India rises, China enters, and America begins focusing its efforts
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elsewhere. The old balance kept the peace, albeit sometimes by
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making war. The defining features of this new balance still need
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working out and, in this, Australia is vitally interested.
 #BookReview –
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30/04/2020 Indian Ocean Air Power: An Ocean of Air Forces – Peter Layton – The Central Blue

The balance of power term explicitly relates to military power and Reviewed by David
the most technical, individually destructive, and prestigious military Hood
power is air power. In recent years, Indian Ocean states have
invested in enlarging and modernising their air forces, some to fight
and win wars, others to enhance their status. This first of three posts
undertakes a tour d’horizon of Indian Ocean air forces, initially Categories
looking at those at peace and then four at war.
 #5thgenmanoeuvre
On the western side of the Indian Ocean, most air forces comprise
mainly air transport aircraft with a token obsolescent fighter force.  #highintensitywar
The Kenyan Air Force operates upgraded American F-5 aircraft,
Tanzania next door has Chinese J-7s (new build MiG-21s), while  #jointstrike
Mozambique has several old Soviet-era MiG-21s recently
refurbished in Romania.  #Selfsustain

South Africa is the standout with its modest force of modern  5th Generation Air
Swedish JAS-39 Grippens, a competent personnel training Power
infrastructure, a small but capable export-oriented defence
industrial base, and an innovative national science and technology
 AI
organisation. The South African Air Force is suffering from spares
shortages, reducing flying hours and a lack of investment in new
 Air Force
equipment. Most of the South African Air Force’s budget now goes
to personnel. Structural change is necessary together with reliable
 Air Power
funding, which may come as the national economy recovers.
 Army
On the opposite side of the Indian Ocean are Malaysia and
Indonesia. Malaysia has an eclectic mix of Russian, United States
 Australian Army
(US), and European aircraft, which includes a small Su-30 fighter
force. A Light Combat Aircraft competition is underway assessing
 Australian Defence
Pakistan’s JF-17 Thunder, India’s Tejas, South Korea’s FA-50 Golden
Force
Eagle, Russia’s YAK-130, and Italy’s M-346. The FA-50 may have an
advantage in being in service with other ASEAN nations with its cost
possibly offset through palm-oil barter options. In its own way,  Aviation Safety
having three Asian-made options highlights the shift to the Asian
Century now underway.  Book review

Indonesia has also used palm-oil barter in its most recent purchase  Capability
of Russian Su-35S aircraft that will operate alongside Su-27, Su-30, Development
and refurbished US F-16 Block 52 fighters.  More ambitiously
Indonesia has joined as a 20% partner with South Korea in the  China
development of KAI KFX/IFX 4.5-generation fighter. Indonesia has
joint developer status and has integrated engineers into the project  Cyber Warfare
in South Korea. The first flight is set for 2021 with Indonesia initially
acquiring 16 to enter service in the late 2020s.  Debriefs

Also bordering the Bay of Bengal are the air forces of Bangladesh,  Defence White
Myanmar and Sri Lanka. All are principally force structured for Paper
internal defence, although Bangladesh has aspirations to modernise
its air defence capability by 2030, including replacing its aging  Education
Chinese J-7s and Russian MiG-29s.
 Ethics

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30/04/2020 Indian Ocean Air Power: An Ocean of Air Forces – Peter Layton – The Central Blue

The Indian Ocean air forces discussed so far are all peacetime-
 Fiction
oriented, not so others in the Arabian Gulf and South Asia.
 Future Warfare
In the Gulf region, the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) now leads a
major coalition effort that includes the United Arab Emirates (UAE),
 History
Kuwait, and Bahrain air forces in a protracted war against a Houthi
uprising in Yemen. The RSAF is very well-equipped with the modern
US and European fighters employing precision-guided munitions.  Leadership
But the RSAF has so far been unable to translate its air dominance
into victory over a now well-dispersed light infantry opponent. The  Logistics
initial battlefield air interdiction campaign was successful in
supporting an amphibious assault on Aden and deep inland  National Power
advances by friendly land forces. The air campaign, though, quickly
ran out of significant military targets and adopted a coercion  Navy
strategy attacking Yemen’s civilian infrastructure, trying to punish
the Houthis and force them to disarm and leave the capital.  Organisational
Culture
The RSAF operating in Yemen appears an effective air force at the
tactical level, although air-to-air refuelling remains a noticeable  Review
gap. However, the RSAF has had difficulties at devising winning
strategies, targeting in dynamic situations, intelligence support, and  Royal Australian
in applying the laws of armed conflict. In earlier Saudi wars, these Air Force
higher-level headquarters functions were provided by the US, but in
this war, the RSAF must provide for itself. Many Indian Ocean air  Royal Australian
forces are likely to have similar problems: competent tactically but Navy
deficient in operational level command and control, and so unable
to realise their full combat potential.  Science Fiction

In terms of future air power, the Houthi’s have responded in two  Space
significant areas. They have fired numerous ballistic missiles deep
into Saudi Arabia requiring the Royal Saudi Air Defence Force (an  Strategy
independent Service in the kingdom) to deploy Patriot surface-to-air
missile batteries for defence. Secondly, the Houthis have also  Technology
launched numerous small drones in attacks against Saudi Arabia
and UAE airports and oil industry infrastructure. While more than  Training
140 of these commercially available low-technology drones have
been shot down, they are proving a useful weapon. The Houthi’s  Uncategorized
drones and missiles highlight that countries can now have offensive
air power capabilities without fielding manned aircraft and that
 Unmanned Aerial
such weapons are threats that Indian Ocean air forces need to Vehicles
consider seriously.

Nearby in South Asia, Pakistan operates some 450 combat aircraft of

Chinese, US, and European origin, albeit about half are obsolescent. Previous Posts
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is structured for a major war with India
with a strong focus on national air defence and a lesser emphasis
 April 2020
on-air support of land forces, including in counterinsurgency
operations on the northern frontier. In recent years its ability to
 March 2020
prevent intrusions into Pakistani airspace have been questioned.
These intrusions though have been rare one-off events and arguably
 February 2020
not representative of the PAF’s wartime capabilities. Even so, the
PAF’s February 2019 armed intrusion into Indian airspace was
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30/04/2020 Indian Ocean Air Power: An Ocean of Air Forces – Peter Layton – The Central Blue

operationally unimpressive saved only by shooting down a

 January 2020
defending Indian fighter.

 December 2019
The PAF has a nuclear weapon delivery role reportedly using its US
F-16 fighters. Pakistan though also has a comprehensive range of
 November 2019
indigenously developed short and medium-range ballistic missiles,
and medium-range cruise missiles operated by the Army Strategic
Forces Command to strike airfield, port facilities, and critical military  October 2019
targets. These missiles can be fitted with conventional or nuclear
warheads; Pakistan has around 150 nuclear weapons, increasing by  September 2019
about 15-20 each year.
 August 2019
The Indian Air Force (IAF), the PAF’s bête noire, must deter not just
Pakistan but also an increasingly assertive China. China has built  July 2019
airbases in Tibet, meaning the IAF now faces the difficult prospect
of a two-front war. The IAF has about 650 combat aircraft of mainly  June 2019
Russian or French origin. It is a well-balanced, highly capable air
force that includes some 270 Su-30 fighters, airborne early warning  May 2019
(AEW), electronic warfare, and tanker aircraft. The IAF regularly
exercises with major international air forces including at US Red  April 2019
Flag exercises and in 2018 at Australia’s Pitch Black. However,
budget issues, a focus on problematic indigenous aircraft  March 2019
development, and a flawed acquisition system mean the IAF’s end-
strength is gradually reducing.  February 2019

The capabilities of the IAF were highlighted in the February 2019  January 2019
raids on three insurgent training facilities in Pakistan and Pakistani
Kashmir. The IAF launched a night raid in poor weather involving 18  December 2018
Mirage 2000 strike aircraft dropping laser-guided bombs and the
Spice imaging-guided weapon. In support were 4 Su-30s fighters for  November 2018
air defence, an Il-78 tanker, and an Embraer AEW aircraft with its
indigenously developed air-surveillance radar. This was a  October 2018
complicated mission operationally, and tactically that fell short as
the attacks apparently used inaccurate mapping data to program the  September 2018
Spice weapons.
 August 2018
Such a shortcoming highlights that modern air forces are very
complicated systems of systems. A small failure can make a modern
 July 2018
air force operationally ineffective. This is becoming more so with
fifth-generation aircraft requiring much greater extensive mission
 June 2018
support than ever before. Indian Ocean air forces that try to keep up
with the leading edge of military aviation must now make sizeable
 May 2018
investments in support systems, even if at the expense of buying
more air combat aircraft.
 April 2018

In that, only three Indian Ocean states deploy globally significant air
 March 2018
power: India, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. However, offstage US,
Chinese, British and French air power await the call to intervene.
The next post will discuss their Indian Ocean capabilities.  February 2018

Dr Peter Layton is a Visiting Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith  January 2018
University, a Senior Correspondent with WA DEFENCE REVIEW, and the
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30/04/2020 Indian Ocean Air Power: An Ocean of Air Forces – Peter Layton – The Central Blue

author of the book Grand Strategy. This article was originally

 December 2017
commissioned for, and published in, the WA Defence Review 2019
Annual Publication.
 November 2017

By Editor | March 8th, 2020 | Air Power | 1 Comment

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Part 2 | Indian Ocean Air Power: Extra Regional Air Forces - Griffith Asia Insights
22/03/2020 at 6:03 pm - Reply  March 2017

[…] Ocean air power involves more than just the littoral  February 2017
states discussed in the first post of this series. The most
impressive of the extra-regional air power states, the  January 2017
United States […]
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30/04/2020 Indian Ocean Air Power: An Ocean of Air Forces – Peter Layton – The Central Blue

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