At the outset, we at SP Guide Publications offer felicitations to all ranks of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on the occasion of its 82nd anniversary on October 8. In the more than eight decades that have gone by since the birth of the IAF in October 1932, this organisation has grown from strength to strength and today it ranks as the fourth largest air force in the world with respectable strategic reach and the capability to meet with the challenges to national security. However, with the perpetually rising belligerence and military capability of the two not-so-friendly neighbours China and Pakistan, the challenges before the IAF are becoming increasingly formidable. May the IAF attain greater heights of strength and glory in the years ahead and safeguard the nation from the evil designs of the belligerent adversaries!

This issue of SP’s Aviation carries a range of articles on the different facets of the IAF cataloguing the challenges confronting the organisation as well as its aspirations in the regime of combat aircraft, the transport fleet, aerial weapon systems, force multipliers, training for the next war and human resource management. But what is of major concern for the IAF is the inordinate delay in the finalisation of contract negotiations for the Rafale medium multi-role combat aircraft and the award of contract for 126 aircraft to Dassault Aviation, the vendor that has emerged as L1 in the tender. This concern is further compounded by the excruciatingly slow pace at which the Indo-Russian project for the fifth-generation fighter aircraft is moving.

This is also the time to felicitate the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) that has done the nation proud with the remarkable feat of successfully inserting in the very first attempt the Mangalyaan, a satellite from its own stables, in an orbit around the Red Planet Mars. This success has helped catapult the nation into the elite club of three nations in the world who have been able to send missions to Mars successfully. The next Indian mission to Mars is likely to be in 2018 in which ISRO would aim to land a Rover to explore its surface. This issue carries a report by Air Marshal B.K. Pandey on ISRO’s tryst with the Red Planet. Hopefully, the Indian aerospace industry, including the Defence Research and Development Organisation, will be duly inspired by the success notched up by ISRO and begin to show results in their endeavours!

Writing from Bengaluru, R. Chandrakanth carries out a comprehensive review of the civil aviation industry. The author analyses the global business jet market and concludes that the business jet industry is progressing towards a recovery from the steep downturn of 2009-10. Several market indicators continued to show improvement in 2013. In a curtain-raiser for the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) – Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition at Orlando, Florida, towards the end of October this year, Chandrakanth is of the view that the winds of change are bringing cheer in the general aviation industry. There is a definite drift towards positive growth, albeit at a gradual pace. The clear upswing in the deliveries of new jets, particularly for the light and mid-size business jets, is one of the indicators. In the Regional Aviation segment, Chandrakanth observes that regional jets are gaining in prominence as the need to connect smaller towns to the cities has become so intrinsic to the overall development of a nation. A major thrust area is that engine manufacturers are under constant pressure to develop engines that will provide the lowest fuel burn as the rising cost of this component displays a continuously rising trend seriously impinging on profitability of commercial aviation ventures.

All these apart from the regular features. Welcome aboard and happy landings!