India received three units of S-400 missile systems from Russia: IAF chief Marshal AP Singh

NEW DELHI: Air chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh on Friday said that Russia has delivered three S-400 missile system units to India and has “committed to delivering the remaining two units by the following year.”

Addressing a press conference held ahead of Air Force Day, the chief of Air Staff, emphasised on the importance of possessing domestically developed weapons systems to tackle potential security threats, while discussing geopolitical strains and disputes in different regions.

He said, the Indian Air Force aims to have its entire inventory manufactured in India by 2047, adding that "When it comes to conflict situations, if you are relying on getting your weapons from outside, there will always be different interests and changing interests which can create a choke point for you. If you need to fight the war...you have to have them being manufactured in India. You cannot afford to have them being bought and rely on that supply chain.

"It is imperative that we have these things being produced in India...we can't be stocking up everything forever. These things will have life. If we keep stocking up, we'll have wastage," the Air chief Marshal added.

The IAF chief highlighted India's ability to launch attacks on adversaries in foreign territories, citing the Balakot air strikes as a demonstration of this capability. “We have the capability to strike our enemies in foreign lands and we showed it in the Balakot air strikes,” he said.

IAF chief further continued, “As far as Eastern Ladakh is concerned, the infra development on the other side is rapid. We are also matching up and new airfields are coming up at Nyoma and also beefing up existing capabilities. Airfields are being upgraded in the Central sector.”

“We have to decide on the route to be taken for the procurement (of 114 new fighter aircraft). We are right now looking at the DAP-2020 for the 114 multi role fighter programme and we want it to be Made in India,” he added.

Chief AP Singh said that it is also focusing on the induction of advanced weaponry, such as long-range surface-to-air guided weapons like the Kusha. “We are looking at inducting the long-range surface to air-guided weapons like the Kusha, a large number of Akash missiles have been inducted and we are now looking at Akash NG.” he added.

The Air chief Marshal also said that Agniveers will bring pride to the Indian Air Force, adding that "Our feedback on Agniveers has been very positive.We were asked if we could absorb more than 25% Agniveer and we said that we could. The decision has to be taken by the government."

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