Considering the Nature of the adversaries, there is a critical need to increase the air power of the country: Chief of Air Force VK Chaudhary
Srinagar, 19 April (CNI): Claiming that “Aerospace power” will become an important factor in future combat space operations, Air Force Chief Marshal VR Chaudhary said the Balakot operation demonstrated the effectiveness of the country’s air power. He said that for the security concerns of the country require, it is necessary to have an adequate military force capable of achieving deterrence, ensuring information dominance, coercion when necessary and providing multiple response options.
According to the monitoring desk of News-agency Current News of India (CNI), while addressing a seminar on the topic of “Aerospace Power: Pivot to Future Battle Space Operations”, Chief of Air Force VR Choudhary said “This is very important given the nature of our adversaries. The response options available to the leadership have suddenly increased, and increasingly, air power has become an option of choice due to inherent flexibility and unmatched precision strike capability.”
Choudhary said the 2019 air strikes against a terror facility in Pakistan’s Balakot demonstrated that if the political will is there, aerospace power can be effectively used in a ‘no war, no peace’ scenario, under a nuclear overhang, without allowing the situation to escalate into a full-blown conflict.
India’s security concerns require that it puts in place adequate military power to achieve deterrence, ensure information dominance, coerce when needed, and provide multiple response options, he said.
“Attributes of aerospace power enable the leadership to formulate an appropriate strategy with due cognizance given to the desired end state, conflict termination criteria and escalation matrix.”
High speed, reduced response time, long reach, increased mobility, technological intensity, precision firepower, shock effect, ability to operate across domains, and network-centric operations have made aerospace power a formidable component of India’s military might, Chaudhari said.
Considering the advantages that aerospace power offers, aerospace control and dominance will become a crucial factor in future battlespace operations, the IAF chief said.
“We must acknowledge that the wars of the future will be fought differently. Adversaries will use lethal as well as non-lethal weapons, wars will be fought across multiple domains and will not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants,” the IAF chief said.
He said the future battlespace will be increasingly complex and characterised by heavy dependence on technology, asymmetric nature of threats, expanded battlespaces, high tempo of operations, enhanced lethality, compressed sensor-to-shooter cycles, and media scrutiny.(CNI)
