New Delhi: The current geopolitical situation necessitates India, which has ongoing border disputes with both China and Pakistan, to prepare its armed forces for both short- and long-term stand-offs, Indian Air Force chief V R Chaudhari said.
He said that the IAF’s recent experiences as well as the evolving geopolitical scenario mandate the force to be operationally and logistically responsive at all times.
“The current geopolitical situation necessitates the Indian Air Force to prepare for intense and small duration operations at a short notice. This new paradigm of high-intensity operations, coupled with minimal build-up time, would require major changes in terms of operational logistics. Logistics support in such a scenario would be extremely challenging considering the fact that we have a fairly vast and diversified inventory.”
To address issues like the availability of spares, the IAF chief said that India needs to re-evaluate demand forecasting methods and stocking philosophies. “The way forward will be to have a serviceability-linked inventory management system.
“Flexible stocking policies with modern forecasting techniques would help in demand sensing and prepositioning of items at bases.
Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said in the force, space, and time continuum, “there would be a need for us to prepare for short swift wars as well as be ready for a long drawn standoff akin to what we are seeing in eastern Ladakh”.
