Indian Air Force Day 2022: Major announcements made during 90th anniversary celebrations
Ceremonial parade
A ceremonial parade was held at the Chandigarh air force station to mark the IAF anniversary. It was followed by a march-past.
Ensign formation performed by 3 Mi-17V5, and led by Wing Commander Vishal Jain, did a fly-past when the IAF chief arrived.
Air-Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Air Command, Air Marshal Sreekumar Prabhakaran, senior officers from the three services and Ministry of Defence, and veterans, were among those present on the occasion.
Fly past
Nearly 80 military aircraft and helicopters will participate later in the day in an Air Force Day fly-past at the Sukhna Lake complex here, an event which will be attended by President Droupadi Murmu and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
It is for the first time that the IAF has decided to hold its annual Air Force Day parade and fly-past outside the Delhi-NCR.
"In a break from tradition, we have decided to conduct the AF Day parade in Chandigarh this year and in different locations across the country from here onwards," said the IAF chief.
The many roles of the IAF
Chaudhari said that the IAF has had its share of challenges in the last one year and it has taken them "head on and with all guns blazing."
The IAF chief said that from a continued deployment along our borders to performing disaster relief operations and rescuing stranded Indians from conflict zones, they have performed a whole spectrum of roles.
He said the traditional domains of land, sea, and air have expanded to include space and cyberspace, forming a one continuum of hybrid warfare.
A new combat uniform
On the occasion, a new pattern of combat uniform for IAF personnel was launched.
The Indian Air Force's new camouflage combat uniform is similar to the army's gear. The new uniform's digital design is terrain-friendly and allows soldiers to move with flexibility from deserts, mountainous lands, woodlands, etc.
According to Times Now, the former organic patterns have been replaced by pixelated design for the battle fatigues.
The IAF uniform will have a new breathable and lightweight fabric and design in addition to the new pattern, which will improve comfort and productivity.
A new weapon system branch
The central government has approved the creation of a weapon system branch for the officers of the Indian Air Force, which would save it $410 million or INR 3,400 crore in flying training, said Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari.
He said this is the first time since Independence that a new operational branch is being created. The new branch will essentially man the specialised streams of surface- to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, remotely piloted aircraft, and weapon system operators in twin and multi-crew aircraft, he said.
Women agniveers
Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari also announced that IAF is planning on induction of women Agniveers starting next year.
Chaudhari said that induction of air warriors into the IAF through the Agnipath scheme is a challenge, but also an opportunity to harness the potential of India's youth in the service of the nation.
"We have changed our operational training methodology to ensure that each Agniveer is equipped with the right skills and knowledge to start their career in the Air Force," he said, adding that in December the IAF will induct 3,000 'Agniveer Vayu' for their initial training.
No single service can win a war on its own
Delivering his address at the air force station, Chaudhari said that the key to success in multidomain operations is to have "flexible, robust and redundant command and control structures" which will allow a joint force to dominate across domains.
No single service can win a war on its own. Work is in progress to 'enhance jointness' among the three services, he said.
The IAF chief noted that advent of drones, swarm drones, hypersonic weapons, and space-based ISR systems has added a new dimension to war fighting.
"To effectively handle the full spectrum, artificial intelligence is being used for a quicker decision making and analysis of big data. I am happy to report that several projects are well underway to utilise the potential of automation, data analytics, and artificial intelligence to transform our operational philosophy," he said.
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