New Delhi, October 4
Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on Tuesday made it clear that the Indian Air Force is not opposed to the tri-services theaterisation plan but asserted that the doctrinal aspects of the force should not in anyway be compromised by the new structures.
At a press conference ahead of the Air Force Day on October 8, the Chief of Air Staff said the IAF has certain reservations in respect to the proposed structures and emphasised on reduction in the layers of decision-making process.
He said the IAF has recently updated and revised its doctrine to keep it relevant, noting that no single service can win wars on its own.
With Gen Anil Chauhan taking charge as the new Chief of Defence Staff last week, it is expected that the ambitious theaterisation process of the three services will see forward movement.
“We are not opposing any process of integration and any process of theatre commands. We have certain reservations in respect to the structures,” he said while responding to a question on the plan.
According to the plan, each of the theatre commands will have units of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force and all of them will work as a single entity looking after security challenges in a specified geographical territory under an operational commander.
At present, the Army, Navy and the Air Force have separate commands. “We are fully supporting the integration process; it is only the methodology and the kind of structures that need to be future ready is what we are insisting on,” the Air Chief Marshal said.
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