Chief of the Air Staff Indian Air Force (IAF) Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari on Sunday said that over the past nine decades, IAF has constantly evolved and transformed into one of the finest air forces in the world.

“But is that enough? If India is on the path to becoming a developed nation by 2047, then IAF must be one of the best, if not the best, by the time we complete 100 years in 2032,” he said.

The Air Chief Marshal was addressing air warriors at the Air Force Day-2023 parade at Air Force Station-Bamrauli in Prayagraj on the occasion of 91st Air Force Day.

The vision, as laid down in IAF doctrine, is to be an agile and adaptable air force that provides decisive aerospace power in furtherance of our national interests, he said.

He said that the force structure that needs to be developed must be future-ready. “Joint planning and integrated application of combat power will be the sine-qua-non (absolutely indispensable) of future wars. Developing unique tactics, carrying out realistic training and incorporating relevant lessons learnt will go a long way,” he stressed.

“In order to make our vision a reality, we must all play our respective parts diligently. We must reform, or become a relic. We must innovate, else become mundane and we must transform, else become irrelevant,” the Air Chief Marshal added.

Urging air warriors to hold themselves to the highest standards in every facet of operations, training, maintenance and administration, Chaudhari said, “We must strive to be leaders in technology and innovation. We must invest in cutting-edge research, development and acquisition to build technological superiority.”

Chaudhari said the world is changing at a rapid pace and the IAF must meet all new challenges coming its way.

“Innovation must become a part of our DNA, enabling us to easily adapt to emerging threats and challenges. There is a need for us to candidly assess ourselves and address any inhibitions to change,” he added.

The IAF chief said that from multi-domain operations to hybrid warfare, the IAF needs to recognise that modern warfare transcends traditional boundaries. “We must seamlessly integrate air, space, cyber and ground capabilities to dominate the battlespace,” he said.

Acknowledging that the last one year had brought its fair share of challenges the IAF way, Chaudhari said, “IAF has performed exceedingly well and passed every test with flying colours. We have not only circumvented challenges but also turned those challenges into opportunities.”

He said that the current geopolitical landscape has provided the IAF with an opportunity to reduce dependency on imports by developing indigenous capability.

“We have successfully inducted the first batch of Agniveers and subsequent batches, including women Agniveers, are presently undergoing basic training. The rigour of training has been increased across the board for all training curriculums with more emphasis on self-learning and self-education,” he added.

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan and many of his predecessors including Air Chief Marshal (Retd) RKS Bhadauria, Air Chief Marshal (Retd) NAK Brown, Air Chief Marshal (Retd) PV Naik, Air Chief Marshal (Retd) SP Tyagi, Air Chief Marshal (Retd) S Krishnaswamy, Air Chief Marshal (Retd) AY Tipnis and Air Chief Marshal (Retd) NC Suri, were present at the occasion.