Chandigarh: The Central government has approved the creation of a weapon system branch for the officers of the Indian Air Force, which would save it Rs 3,400 crore in flying training, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari said here on Saturday.
He announced that IAF is also planning on induction of women Agniveers starting next year.
Delivering his address at the air force station here on the occasion of 90th anniversary celebrations of the IAF, Chaudhari said 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," Chaudhari said.
On the occasion, a new pattern of combat uniform for IAF personnel was launched.
On creation of a weapon system branch, 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.
Creation of this branch would result in savings of more than Rs 3,400 crore due to reduced expenditure on flying training, he said.
Chaudhari inspected a ceremonial parade that was held at the air force station here on Saturday morning 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. The IAF chief noted that the 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.
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.
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.
This number will only go up in the years to come to ensure adequate staffing, he added. 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 the 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.