IAF Chief Says Technology Delayed Is Technology Denied

Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh on Thursday said “technology delayed is technology denied” and that there was no point having something which came after others have got already.

Air Chief Marshal Singh emphasised that technology development should be swift as things were changing fast with the advent of disruptive technologies. “Everyday, some new thing is coming out.” he said and added that the worry was that “we should not miss the bus.”

"Not only just technology, technology staying in a lab. If we have the technology, but it has not gone beyond lab, then also, no point," he said.

The IAF chief pitched for achieving greater self-reliance in building unmanned aerial systems and other critical defence technologies.

He said there were discussions between the IAF, the Union civil aviation ministry and other ministries involved so that "we finally should be able to recognise a drone, whether it is a bona fide drone or a rogue drone".

"We should be able to have no fratricide, in terms of (whether) we (are) shooting down our own drones or taking down something that is meant for us," he said.

At a workshop hosted here by the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM), and attended by defence military and industry experts, the Air Chief Marshal also spoke about integration of manned platforms and drones and other unmanned aerial systems (UAS), which would share the same airspace.

"Integration is very important. We have manned platforms and long-range vectors which will continue to use the same airspace where the drones are going to come in. I am talking about a whole range of drones, from a small micro or mini drone to a UAS which is like a full aircraft, but unmanned.

"Everybody is going to use the same airspace. So man, whether in the loop, on the loop, at least in planning, in terms of control, feedback system, situational awareness, we need to know each other's positions, and understand how an airspace is going to be used, whether it is procedural control or active control," he said.

The IAF chief added that if drones were to be miniaturised, and if their weights would go down, even the payloads to be used, whether a weapon or a camera or any other other, also had to be miniaturised.

"While doing this, we have to get down to the absolute... I mean to say, every brick has to be made in India. Actually every brick should be developed in India, then only we can say, we are fully Aatmanirbhar. If there are some components for which we are still relying on some other country then obviously we can be fall prey to that country, throttling those supplies," he said.

Air Chief Marshal Singh also underlined the "multiple challenges" in the defence sector when it came to technology development, and said, "it can't be solved by one one agency, one person, one group of people."

"All of us have to come together. It has to be a whole-of-nation approach that we call, whether we are users like in this case, or if you're talking about defence, drones, then it is the defence industry, defence forces, whether we are government, making the rules and industry, researchers, regulators, academia, incubators, investors, QA/QC (Quality Assurance and Quality Control) agencies.”

On drone technology, he said, there are two factors — first, each drone cannot carry the weight of attack, the way a manned platform, a big platform can carry. One need to send them in largen numbers to attack, and second is that the failure rate is very high as of now. So, one doesn't know how many being launched will reach the target for whatever purpose they were launched for.

So, the certification agencies have to play a "big role" in whatever the requirements are there in labs to test them and also ensure future growth.

"That means all other technologies that are coming in, which are required to make the mission success, whether it is stealth, whether it is some countermeasures to make it survivable in the battlefield, all technologies have to develop along, and get miniaturised, for them to succeed," he said.