Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh said on Friday that while China is rapidly expanding its infrastructure on the LAC, especially in the Ladakh sector, India too is busy modernizing its border facilities. Delivering a press conference before the air force day, Singh urged over the dependency on home-developed weapons systems based on escalating tensions and wars globally. He said that starting from the IAF, India should aim to have a wholly homegrown fleet by 2047.
In the course of answering questions about the military acquisition, Singh explained that India took delivery of three of the main flight units of the S-400 Missile Defense System, with the Russian government promising to deliver the remaining two by next year. It is pertinent in view of the current or emerging susceptibilities to air strikes across our neighbors in the Indian region.
Singh, with nearly 5,400 flying hours to his credit as a test pilot, assumed the top post of the Indian Air Force last month, succeeding Chaudhari, who retired after serving a three-year term as the Air Chief. Before joining the service as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Singh was a Lieutenant Colonel.
The 47-year-old ACM Singh was born on October 27th, 1964, and was commissioned into the fighter pilot stream of the IAF in December of 1984. He has nearly 39 years of experience in military aviation, and many of them demonstrated his versatility in command, staff, training, and other overseas positions. He is an NDA pass-out and has also attended the Defence Services Staff College and the National Defence College. Additionally, he is a QFI (Qualified Flying Instructor) and an aircraft experimental test pilot with more than 5000 hours of flying experience, including over-fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. His leadership comes at the right time as the country begins to experience increased security threats in the region.
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