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Fully prepared for any contingency, says air force chief
Hyderabad
Hyderabad
India is not expecting a war with China on the border issue, but it is fully prepared to meet any contingency arising out of the conflict on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said in Hyderabad on Saturday.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief said India will always be prepared to defend its territories. His remarks came against the backdrop of the biggest confrontation with China in over five decades in which 20 soldiers, including a colonel, were killed in the Galwan valley on June 15.
“It should be very clear that we are well-prepared and suitably deployed to respond to any contingency. I assure the nation that we are determined to deliver and will never let the sacrifice of our braves of Galwan go in vain,” he said, addressing 123 newly graduated IAF cadets, including 19 women cadets, at the Air Force Academy at Dundigal on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
He also interacted with reporters after reviewing the combined graduation parade. Bhadauria said the air force, for tactical reasons, cannot disclose where and how the deployments will be made. “We shall do and we are doing it as per the requirements,” he said. “We know what their (Chinese) fields are. We know what their air fields are, where they are deployed, what are the operational bases,” he added.
Replying to a query on his assessment of the LAC situation in the wake of his visit to the airbases in Leh and Srinagar over the last two days, the Air Chief Marshal said the army was in full control of the situation at Galwan valley. “We are aware of the full situation. Be at LAC (Line of Actual Control), be it deployments beyond LAC,” Bhadauria said.
When asked if India is at war with China, Bhadauria said: “You are aware of the talks that are happening at the military level...but we are prepared for any contingency.”
Answering another question, Bhadauria admitted that the air force was yet to acquire full capacity in indigenous production of fighter aircraft. “However, we are developing the ecosystem for indigenous manufacturing. We hope to produce 300 plus aircraft in the next 15 years,” he said.
