New Delhi, January 7
Stressing the need for the production agencies over the slow production rate, Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh on Tuesday said that the service has not even received the 40 Tejas aircraft, adding that the production agencies have to invest in their advanced manufacturing processes.
Speaking at the 21st Subroto Mukherjee seminar on 'Aatmanirbharta in Aerospace Sector' in the national capital he said that if we aspire to be a country of reckoning in the world, "aerospace sector" will be a major contributor towards that.
"We need to increase our capacity. Again, when do we need the capacity? So we need to have that capacity. We need to be flexible in that. So Production agencies have to invest in their advanced manufacturing processes so that the speed can increase upskilling their manpower and whatever they do, the scale of production has to go up. In Tejas just started inducting in 2016. Actually, we should go back to 1984 when we conceived that aircraft. First aircraft flew in 2001, 17 years. Then the induction started another 15 years later, in 2016. Today we are in 2024. I do not have the 1st 40 aircraft also, so this is the production capability. We need to do something and I am very convinced that we need to get some private players in. We need to have competition. We need to have multiple sources available so that people are wary of losing their, you know, orders, that we may not get the next order. Otherwise, things will not change," he added.
The Air Chief Marshal said that they have concerns from our northern and western adversaries.
"As far as defence is concerned, we have concerns from our northern and western adversaries. Both of them are increasing their forces at a rapid pace. As far as China is concerned, it is not just numbers. The technology is also growing at a rapid pace. We just saw the flight of the latest new generation aircraft that they have pulled out.. the stealth fighter," the Air Chief Marshal said.
He said, "When the chips are down, your friends may also not come to you. The only way you can survive is by doing things which can help you survive. We have heard that even gods help those who help themselves. We need to do things ourselves."
He further said that in the IAF they need to innovate and come up with new ideas.
"I am not saying that who has been failing. I think all of us have been failing in not being able to take us to that self-reliant state where we should have been today. We in uniform are no less," Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said.
- ANI