Editor,
With a new world order and uncertainty taking place in a time when authoritarian regimes are rising, profound changes are noticeable in economies slowly becoming cashless and technology reliant on machine learning, the United States under President Trump recently unveiled the 6th generation fighter plane dubbed the F-47, estimated at 20 billion dollars the program was grabbed by Boeing which could surpass any fighter aircraft in its fleet raising eyebrows at Beijing. Fast forward to the Indian subcontinent, the French relationship has always been cozy with the Mirage and Rafale warplanes leading but what about the indigenous Tejas when last month the Air Chief Marshal AP Singh went on to say that he was not confident with HAL on the delay.
The geopolitical ground in Northeast India is shifting with Bangladesh at flux and Myanmar the military having a vice like grip, it is time for the big bosses at South Block to revisit the drawing board and analyse the tectonic balancing needed along sensitive border areas, there is no shadow of a doubt that the prowess within the men and women of the IAF as every military exercise with their foreign counterparts they dominate using their wise and quick decision-making process. Apart from the elemental psychology which is at play, the need to operationalise certain strategic areas and reinventing the force is the need of the hour. Finding the IAF squadron strength depleting, even the Defence Secretary, Rajesh Kumar Singh, urged immediate modernisation.
I am reminded of a book ‘Indian Army Vision 2020’ by Late Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal, a once towering figure in the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi and Observer Research Foundation outlining the different facets from Air power, management along bordering areas, internal security and command-and-control systems giving a vantage point towards a 21st century changing environment.
Christopher Gatphoh,
Laitkor Rngi, Shillong-10
