Security environment in neighbourhood far from ideal, must prepare for hybrid warfare: IAF chief

The security environment in our neighbourhood remains far from ideal, Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari said on Tuesday, stressing upon the need to complement India's economic progress with a mirroring trajectory of homegrown military capabilities.

Noting that the country is faced with a wide variety of threats, the Air Chief Marshal said the distinct challenge lies in the convergence into hybrid wars and the country must prepare for such a warfare.

"The impact of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is being felt the world over. The world is staring at an economic recession, with many smaller countries already facing the brunt of political and economic instability caused by hyperinflation. In this environment, India continues to be an outlier as our economy has shown a robust recovery," he said at the India Defence Conclave here.

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"The security environment in our neighbourhood remains far from ideal. Therefore, our economic progress needs to be complemented by a mirroring trajectory of homegrown military capabilities. Rapid economic growth has allowed countries to invest heavily into military technology and associated research and development," he added.

The Air Chief Marshal noted that there have been attempts by various power centres to enhance their outreach in vulnerable and vacated spaces in economic, technological, and military domains.

"India, as a responsible power, is committed to enhancing cooperation and collaboration with the objectives of sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth and security," he said.

Chaudhari stressed that given the political scenario prevalent today, it is important for the Indian Air Force to enhance its capabilities across the conventional, sub-conventional and non-conventional domains.

"As we speak, new technologies, platforms, weapons, systems, and forms of warfare are being conceptualised, which have the potential of making the existing inventory less relevant or even redundant. Our adversaries have developed full spectrum capabilities across multiple domains, which can be brought to bear upon us in case of any escalation, or even in a no war no peace situation.

"Today, we are faced with a wide variety of threats, but a distinct challenge lies in the convergence into hybrid wars. To counter such threats, we need to build and maintain a technological edge over our adversaries and prepare for hybrid warfare. This makes indigenous research and development and production wait of platforms, sensors, weapons or networking, very critical for future capability building," he said.