The Cassandra Effect Future Perceptions on Air Power

Air power has been an element of military power for just over a century. However, its ability to project power as part of a nation's quest for security and protection has now been acknowledged as second to no other element of national power. Air power's efficacy has been demonstrated time and again in the past few decades.

Technology is the fundamental factor around which the development, application and sustainment of air power is built. This fundamental fact will hold true for the future. This book is a look at the possible future developments that could take place in air power. It provides considered perceptions of how air power will be driven forward by technology and examines the possibilities and pitfalls that will come with its inexorable movement forward. The only surety is that air power will continue to be a critical element of national power well into the foreseeable future.

Professor Sanu Kainikara is an ex-fighter pilot of the Indian Air Force and currently a practising Military Strategist residing in Canberra, Australia. He holds a Master of Science degree in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Madras, and his PhD in International Politics was awarded by the University of Adelaide in Australia. He is an adjunct Professor at the University of New South Wales and the inaugural Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Regional Security in Canberra.

Dr Kainikara is also a political analyst and a long-term student of Indian history. His political analysis and commentaries, as well as papers on national security and strategy are regularly published in reputed international journals and magazines. He is in the process of researching and writing the history of India in a series of books titled From Indus to Independence: A Trek through Indian History, of which the first three volumes have already been published. Sanu is the author of 13 other books on national security and strategy, military forces and air power. This book ‘The Cassandra Effect' will be his 14th title. He has presented numerous papers, on invitation, in International Conferences around the world.

Author's Preface, Introduction, Chapters 1. Air Power and the Evolving Character of War, 2. Politics and Air Power, 3. The Challenge of Cutting-Edge Technology, 4. Air Power Systems—Inhabited, Uninhabited and Autonomous, 5. Air Force: Future Focal Points, Conclusion, Selected Bibliography, Index