The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has demonstrated the integration of multiple forces in domains of air, land, sea, cyber, information and space, and how they are ‘united’ to achieve the goal, Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal AP Singh, on Friday said.
In his address at a CAPS seminar here, he also said 'Atmanirbharata' is ‘not just a buzzword’, it is something that all stakeholders need to put their heart and soul into, and make sure technologies and weapons are developed and manufactured in India, ‘so that we are not relying on an outside agency who could change its alliance or stop flow of weapons to our country’ when the time comes. During the seminar exhibition on air and missile defence hosted by the think-tank at Subroto Park here, many speakers also spoke about various lessons from ongoing conflicts in the world.
‘One thing is certain, if we need to do something, we need to stay... In the game, we need to modernise, we need to continue to grow, continue to innovate and we need to continue being ahead of the curve. Otherwise, we lag behind and we are just chasing,’ Air Marshal Singh said. Technological advancements, the rapid pace that is being seen in people's normal life, has also ‘infused themselves into our weaponry, defence systems’.
Today, what was unthinkable or unimaginable few years back, is a reality, he said, adding, impact on the defence forces, on the warfighting, has made it clear that ‘we need to be agile and flexible in our thoughts as well as actions’.The ongoing conflicts that has been alluded about, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the multi-domain battlespace. It is a ‘classic example of what is going on today and what we are likely to face in our future conflicts’, the Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS) said.
‘This conflict has also demonstrated the integration of multiple forces in domains of air, land, sea, cyber, information, space and how they are united to achieve the goal.
I am sure everyone present here, including my friends from other services will agree that the air domain has clearly emerged as a singular trans-domain link and strong force across domains, a strong method for cross-domain application of force. It is not just an enabler, it has become a force multiplier,’ he asserted.
The VCAS also referred to the Israel-Hamas war to underline the importance of air domain. Even in the urban warfare construct that is seen in Israel-Hamas war, the air domain has been used extensively, whether it is utilising those fighter aircraft with precision weapons or the formidable Iron Dome (air defence) system or utilising those low-cost rockets and loiter munitions by Hamas in challenging that very formidable and very costly system itself, he said.
