Bangalore: In the wake of increasing use of drones to attacks the enemy World over, the Indian Air Force has sought setting up of a separate wing for training and handling pilotless aircraft, Air Marshal D Kukreja, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the IAF Training Command on Friday said.
In an interaction with newspersons here, the veteran air warrior said IAF was fully capable of handling remotely pilotted vehicles (RPV) and had started preparing its men for ”pilotless warfare”, if it happens in the sub continent.
”We have renamed drones or UCAVs as remotely pilotted vehicle. This is because behind every such machine, even if it is pilotless, there is a man controlling it. We have sought with the government to allow IAF set up a separate wing for RPV and is hopeful of it being sanctioned,” he said. He said IAF was already training a small group of people specifically for drones.
”IAF provides tremendous importance for human life but a man (fighter pilot) behind the controls of a machine like war planes is very important. This man is very valuable for us and we always want him to come back, even if the aircraft is lost, the Air Marshal said.
Air Marshal Kukreja rejected the suggestion that there had been some amount of complacency on part of the IAF, as the country had not faced a war for the past 40 years.
IAF was mentally and physically prepared to face the toughest of challenges, he said. ”Don’t worry. We believe in being prepared 24×7 and 365 days of the year. We are prepared in all ways and there is no cause of worry for anybody. While the training command trains air warriors in the best manner possible, the operational command of the IAF takes up regular exercises and is always on a prepared mode,” he said.
He said the IAF was fully abreast with training its men and women in the state-of-the-art equipment being procured by the country and it had upgraded its Tetra (technical training) schools for this purpose.
”We are sending our men regularly abroad whenever we acquire new equipment and they would come back and train the other ground staff in maintenance of the new machines and set up needed infrastructure. (PTI)