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  Drain the Swamp- a review of the air fleet situation                              Prof. Prodyut Das  Iss 4  16/11 2024 The Americans, who have enviable mastery over colourful language have an expression “When you are up to your ass in alligators, it is difficult to remember what you had actually started out to do was to drain the swamp”. Translated into English it suggests that the pressure of immediate problems (alligators up to your arse), often as an adverse reaction to your initiatives (draining the swamp) hinder the long-term solutions. We are at this moment in a crisis with regards to Air Power. The crisis is that due to the (planned?) failures of the ADA programmes; the IAF strength is at an all time low. The pressure is to re-equip massively by importing. Given the present situation, re-equipping with ADA offerings will remain a desert mirage.  This crisis is an opportunity. If we can hold off any panic buying of 5 th generation on offer, we can break the cycle of “com
  A pause before Balaclava?                                                                                Prof. Prodyut Das The AMCA project We are organizationally in such a situation that to get in to the development of the AMCA at the present level of preparation is a recipe for certain failure. The situation is: i)                  We do not have the resources to create the classical 5 th generation. Attempts to do so will lead to un-correctable, cascading failure. ii)                The use of “un-correctable” stems from the fact any design has to make compromises.   The elements of the “ideal” specification- the F35/J 20 equivalence approach will end up in a configuration that will make engineering of the later “concessions” difficult to achieve. Better sit, discuss and get the concessions in the beginning. We might get something decently workable. iii)              The situation at i) leads to the need to an independent review of the current specifications to see what
  The tailless configuration for carrier ops    iss2                                  Prof. Prodyut Das “ I seriously want to know your aeronautical opinion of the F7U Cutlass or F4D Skyray. Cutlass had all sorts of mods to make it work on a carrier but the crash rate was its defining descriptor. Skyray was loved by pilots but it was quickly superceded by F8U and F4H aircraft.” Dear Mike Mueller. It is always a pleasure to exchange views on aircraft though the two you chose are somewhat of rara avi! Since you have a background of having worked in a Grey Funnel Line you may find some of the explanatory notes “known”   stuff   but I am an Indian and write for a largely Indian audience; there are those who like a more informative “ Aufklarung” style with “patter”. With that as an introduction let us begin: The fall of Nazi Germany was the aeronautical equivalent of the fall of Constantinople- it started an aeronautical renaissance in the US. The amount of high-quality data, protot