Eastern Ladakh situation required stretching of equipment to limits IAF chief
New Delhi Oct 21 PTI The situation that developed in eastern Ladakh last year required acclimatisation of a large number of IAF personnel and stretching of equipment to limits but the force is much better prepared now in case there is a long haul Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari said on Thursday In an interaction at a defence conclave here he also said that in the last one year due to the challenges faced in the harsh atmosphere of the region we have realised where we fell short whether it was in terms of adequate clothing shelters for people to live there The situation that developed in eastern Ladakh last year was something that we were not very familiar with particularly in the kind of environment that we needed to operate It required acclimatisation of a large number of personnel at short notice required stretching our equipment to limits which some of it were not cleared for he said The IAF chief said we have moved equipment to altitude well above the altitudes they were tried and tested for when we acquired those systems Following the escalation in tension in eastern Ladakh in mid-June last year the IAF deployed almost all its frontline fighter jets like Sukhoi 30 MKI Jaguar and Mirage 2000 aircraft as well as its attack helicopters in the key air bases in eastern Ladakh and elsewhere along the Line of Actual Control At the conclave held at the Constitution Club of India the IAF chief in response to a question also shared other challenges faced by the air force in the region There was also the challenge of continuously rotating the manpower to take care of their health he said As a result over the last one year we have realised where we fell short whether it was in terms of adequate clothing shelters for people to live there So we have overcome all those shortages now and I think we are better prepared in case there is a long haul we are prepared this winter much better than what we were last year he said During the 89th IAF Day speech at Hindon Airbase on October 8 Chaudhari had asserted that the IAFs prompt actions in response to developments in eastern Ladakh last year were a testament to its combat readiness The year gone by was quite challenging yet extremely rewarding he had said In response to another question on threats faced by India he said I can assure you that we are fully aware of the threats that we face and our acquisitions training and tactics developed to counter such a threat The IAF chief also said that the ability to seamlessly integrate new weapons new data into the network and train its personnel to operate them and keep them future-ready was the way forward I can say with some degree of confidence that the way we go about analysing the threat perception carrying out global scan of the political situation of the acquisitions and modernisation of the adversaries and to counter that we plan are our own acquisition for air force and linked to that is training and development of new tactics he said Every time you find there is an imbalance in technology and pure numbers we counter it with better tactics and better training the IAF chief added PTI KND ZMN ZMN
New Delhi Oct 21 PTI The situation that developed in eastern Ladakh last year required acclimatisation of a large number of IAF personnel and stretching of equipment to limits but the force is much better prepared now in case there is a long haul Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari said on Thursday In an interaction at a defence conclave here he also said that in the last one year due to the challenges faced in the harsh atmosphere of the region we have realised where we fell short whether it was in terms of adequate clothing shelters for people to live there The situation that developed in eastern Ladakh last year was something that we were not very familiar with particularly in the kind of environment that we needed to operate It required acclimatisation of a large number of personnel at short notice required stretching our equipment to limits which some of it were not cleared for he said The IAF chief said we have moved equipment to altitude well above the altitudes they were tried and tested for when we acquired those systems Following the escalation in tension in eastern Ladakh in mid-June last year the IAF deployed almost all its frontline fighter jets like Sukhoi 30 MKI Jaguar and Mirage 2000 aircraft as well as its attack helicopters in the key air bases in eastern Ladakh and elsewhere along the Line of Actual Control At the conclave held at the Constitution Club of India the IAF chief in response to a question also shared other challenges faced by the air force in the region There was also the challenge of continuously rotating the manpower to take care of their health he said As a result over the last one year we have realised where we fell short whether it was in terms of adequate clothing shelters for people to live there So we have overcome all those shortages now and I think we are better prepared in case there is a long haul we are prepared this winter much better than what we were last year he said During the 89th IAF Day speech at Hindon Airbase on October 8 Chaudhari had asserted that the IAFs prompt actions in response to developments in eastern Ladakh last year were a testament to its combat readiness The year gone by was quite challenging yet extremely rewarding he had said In response to another question on threats faced by India he said I can assure you that we are fully aware of the threats that we face and our acquisitions training and tactics developed to counter such a threat The IAF chief also said that the ability to seamlessly integrate new weapons new data into the network and train its personnel to operate them and keep them future-ready was the way forward I can say with some degree of confidence that the way we go about analysing the threat perception carrying out global scan of the political situation of the acquisitions and modernisation of the adversaries and to counter that we plan are our own acquisition for air force and linked to that is training and development of new tactics he said Every time you find there is an imbalance in technology and pure numbers we counter it with better tactics and better training the IAF chief added PTI KND ZMN ZMN
