Given Political Will, Aerospace Power Can Be Effectively Used Beyond Enemy Lines: IAF Chief
New Delhi, Mar 27: IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari on Wednesday said that โBalakot-like operationsโ have shown that given political will, aerospace power can be effectively used beyond enemy lines.
In his address at a seminar on โAerospace Power in Future Conflictsโ, he also said that as nations increasingly rely on space-based assets for building strategic advantage, โmilitarisation and weaponisation of space has become an inevitable realityโ.
โThrough the annals of human history, the skies have often been regarded as realms of wonder and exploration, where dreams take flight and boundaries dissolve into the vast blue expanse,โ he said.
Yet, beneath this calmness lies a domain โfraught with competition where contest for aerial superiorityโ has shaped the destiny of many nations and decided the outcome of many wars, the chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF) said.
โAs we navigate these uncharted skies, air power being a key component of national power, would undoubtedly play a pivotal role and also serve as a symbol of national strength, a tool for peace and cooperation,โ he said.
The IAF chief said, โWe all need to acknowledge that wars of the future will be fought differently.โ Future conflicts will be characterised by a blend of simultaneous application of kinetic and non-kinetic forces, high-levels of battle space transparency, multi-domain operations, a high-degree of precision, enhanced lethality, a compressed sensor-to-shooter cycle, and of course, all under intense media scrutiny, he said.
The air chief marshal also said, โBalakot-like operations have shown that given the political will, aerospace power can be effectively carried out beyond enemy lines, in a no-war, no-peace scenario, under a nuclear overhang without escalating into a full-blown conflict.โ Space has also emerged as a โcritical domain for conduct of military operationsโ, wherein seamless communication, navigation and surveillance capabilities would enhance survivability of modern military forces, the IAF chief said. (Agencies)
