New Delhi:
Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari today stressed the critical importance of India’s air force given the nature of its adversaries and said the 2019 Balakot operations have demonstrated their effectiveness even in a ‘no war, no peace’ scenario and under a ‘nuclear overhang’.
The Chief of the Air Force said air power has become an option of choice because of its “inherent flexibility” and “unparalleled” precision strike capability.
“Operations like Balakot have also shown that, given the political will, space power can be used effectively in a no-war, no-peace scenario, under a nuclear overhang without escalating into full-blown conflict,” he said.
“This is very important given the nature of our adversaries. The response capabilities available to leadership have suddenly increased and air power has increasingly become an option of choice due to its inherent flexibility and unparalleled precision strike capability,” he said.
Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari spoke at a seminar on ‘Aerospace Power: Pivot to Future Battlespace Operations’.
India’s warplanes bombed a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot, Pakistan in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.
“India’s security concerns necessitate that it establish sufficient military force capable of achieving deterrence, ensuring information dominance, coercion when necessary and providing multiple response options,” said Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari.
“Attributes of aerospace strength enable the leaders to formulate an appropriate strategy with the necessary knowledge of the desired end state, conflict resolution criteria and escalation matrix,” he said.
The IAF chief said that given the advantages the aerospace force provides, it will become a critical factor in future combat operations.
Being able to control airspace across domains will prove vital in the future, he said.
Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said there is a need to leverage technology including the CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductors) sensors, artificial intelligence-assisted decision support matrix and manned-unmanned teams.
He said next-generation fighter jets will prove to be a decisive factor in fighting “the wars of tomorrow”.
“One aspect that deserves special mention is the people in the chain. Any form of automation will not be effective unless we have well-trained, situation-aware and technologically sound professionals dealing with our systems,” said the IAF chief. “Seeing first and seeing clearly, reaching first and reaching furthest, striking first and striking with precision will be the mantra for waging modern wars,” he added.
The Air Chief Marshal said that battlespace transparency, enhanced rapid mobility and pinpoint precision will be key to success and that India’s capability development plans should address these issues.
“As the world becomes increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, it is high time we developed countermeasures,” he said.
“We need to evolve to counter the volatile with stability and composure that comes from good strategy formulation and training in an environment of denial,” he said.
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