New Delhi: Noting that drones are on everybody’s mind, IAF Chief Marshal A.P. Singh clarified Tuesday that unmanned aircraft can at best create confusion and help, but can’t win wars. Manned aircraft (fighters) are not going away and will stay for the foreseeable future, he also said.
“It (drones) is a new thing that has come into the market. It is a new thing…playing in our minds. But they can only do up to a certain level. They can’t really win you wars; they can aid, create confusion…a swarm drone system can bring an overload of data, information, and an overload of confusion…that can be created,” the Indian Air Force (IAF) chief said.
“But if you want to hit a place, decimate a place, deep inside the enemy territory, you need to carry a weapon that delivers the punch. A drone cannot really do (that), as of now,” ACM Singh said, speaking at the India Defence Conclave organised by BharatShakti.
He added that in a complicated situation, “you will always have a man in the loop”.
“At least in the foreseeable future, manned aircraft are not going anywhere. Look around the world. They are going in for 6th-generation aircraft that have manned and unmanned teaming. It is manned, so there is a man in the loop,” ACM Singh said.
Responding to a question on whether long-range missiles are the way forward, ACM Singh said it was all about the situation and the weapons and target matching.
“Many places you would want to use a weapon with minimum collateral. Yes, a weapon with a longer range will keep your asset safer as well as the enemy guessing that much more…when it will be released and from where. It is not that you need only long-range weapons. You need a mix of everything, because your different situations require different things. It is not as if one paracetamol will give solutions to all ailments,” ACM Singh said.
Talking about India’s own path to self-sustainability in defence, he said the country is on track, but the process needs to be sped up.
“I won’t say we are groping in the dark. We need to pace up a little more; we need to increase speed….policies and regulations are being aligned to give it traction. A lot of emphasis is given to the private sector and smaller players,” ACM Singh said.
“We cannot say we should totally be aloof and will do everything on our own. We need good partnerships to develop our own technology and catch up where we are lacking. We cannot say we are the best in the world. We have our pluses and minuses. Where we have that, we should go with the right partner and reach where we don’t have to rely on others to fight a normal war,” he said.
Speaking about the lessons the world should learn from Operation Sindoor, the IAF chief said, countries “should learn to terminate the conflict”.
ACM Singh said that the problem the world faces right now is the selection and maintenance of aims.
“They are forgetting their objectives, where they started, ‘what objectives were there’. where they have landed up. Now it is more of ego… or whatever you may say it,” he said, speaking about the ongoing conflict in certain parts of the world.
ACM Singh said that India has achieved its objectives on Day 1 of Operation Sindoor, but Pakistan wanted to do more.
He said whenever the adversary returned and asked for an end to the conflict, India did so, which was the right decision.
“We don’t know where we would have gone after that,” he said.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)