Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
मनोहर पर्रिकर रक्षा अध्ययन एवं विश्लेषण संस्थान

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Centre of Gravity and the Targeting Conundrum

The Indian Air Force (IAF) operates in a congested and contested geopolitical arena. Herein a common understanding of the Centre of Gravity (CoG) can ensure military focus. Understanding of CoG may be approached with differing perspectives. This article would attempt to harmonise these perspectives. Post target identification, planners would be confounded with the dilemma of targeting while applying concentrated firepower. Should this concentration be limited to time and space or in purpose too? Possony studied the air campaigns of World War II and presented one such model for prosecution.

Air Superiority: Myth, Magic or Panacea—Air Power’s Quest for Control of the Air

General Giulio Douhet wrote in 1921 that, ‘he who controls the air controls everything’. Almost a century later, the official doctrine of most major air power nations continue to propagate a similar theme. His contention that control of the air is vital for victory in war was widely accepted and remains so till today. Prominent air power theorists, writing across ages and across continents, agreed to the primacy given to winning and maintaining control of the air. Control of the air is assumed to be primus inter pares of all the air power roles.

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