CHANDIGARH: The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal 1N.CSari has said that the “Indian Air Force (IAF) is fully capable of bring any target inside Pakistan”. Addressing a press conference here on Friday, ACM, who is on a two day visit, said “Though it is not a part of the LAF rules to bombard the militant training camps it is capable of destroying any targets in Pakistan

We stand very well” vis-à-vis the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). “We are ready to face the type of threat posed by the neighboring counties”, he asserted. “Bu if the battlefield environment changes and the neigh boring countries acquire superior and new equipment then we will also have to go for something new”.

He said that the size of the Air Force depended on threats and “I will not ask for more equipment if the threats are hypothetical. It must be visible, for becoming a basis for acquiring new equipment”.

The ACM said that even though operational costs and the cost of men, machines, equipment and fuel had risen steeply, the LAF would do fits best to exercise economy and contribute towards the country’s savings. He proposed to do so by not buying the equipment which earlier wanted to and by But he said that while achieving economy, he would not compromise on combat capability and modernization of the IAF. “We are alive to the situation but would not create a situation on the basis of hypothetical threats”, he said

He said that the project for manufacturing Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) which was expected 10 50 into production by 1993-94had been delayed and would start production sometime 2005, He said that the IAF was still flying the MIGs manufactured in the 50s and these needed to be replaced.

The budgetary allocation in the sixth and seventh Plans was not sufficient for modernization of the air Force, he felt. “We had been able to go through only a quarter of modernization that was needed in the sixth and seventh Plan”.

He said the Gulf war taught them: a lot of lessons. They were conscious of the electronic warfare: earlier but the Gulf war had made it clear that a strong air force could: reduce the role of other services. He, however, said that the war was: multidimensional and only a well-coordinated action of the three wings could be effective.

Article extracted from this publication >> November 15, 1991