Hindon: Speaking at the 88th Indian Air Force day parade, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria assured the country that the IAF will evolve and be ever ready to safeguard India’s sovereignty and interests.

Chief of Air Staff at a press conference ahead of the Indian Air Force Day

“I commend all air warriors for a quick response in the recent standoff on the northern frontiers, when we deployed our combat assets at short notice to handle any eventuality and provided proactive support to all requirements of deployment and sustenance for the Indian Army. We have clearly demonstrated our resolve, our operational capability and the will to effectively engage the adversary, should the need arise,” he said.

Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria added that the emerging security scenario mandated a greater need to have a strong air force, which would fight across the entire spectrum of the warfare. He further spoke about the IAF’s vision for the decade which was to continue to ‘comprehensively’ scale up combat capability and be a ‘force to reckon with’ across the entire sphere of influence by the way of careful structuring of the force, modernisation, operational training and acquisition of indigenous equipment.




He mentioned that the recent inductions such as Rafale, Apaches and Chinook are an addition to the IAF’s combat capability and the upgrades of existing aircraft with weapon systems and sensors have also further enhanced capabilities.