'China Rapidly Building Infrastructure Along LAC, India Trying To Match It,' Says IAF Chief AP Singh

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said on Friday that China is rapidly building infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), especially in the Ladakh sector, and India is also trying to match it, according to news agency PTI. He ensured that India has the“capability to strike our enemies in foreign lands and we showed it in the Balakot air strikes.”

Chief of Army Staff Gen Upendra Dwivedi said on Tuesday that the situation along the LAC in eastern Ladakh is stable but not normal and remains sensitive. Though a "positive signalling" is coming out from the diplomatic talks between the two sides, the execution of any plan depends on the military commanders on the ground, he was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.

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India and China held two rounds of diplomatic talks in July and August with an aim to find early resolution of outstanding issues in their standoff on the LAC in eastern Ladakh. The two sides have so far held 21 rounds of Corps Commander-level talks to resolve the standoff. India has been pressing the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to disengage from the Depsang and Demchok areas.

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At a press conference ahead of the Air Force Day, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh announced that the Indian Air Force is looking at having the entire inventory produced in India by 2047. He was quoted by PTI as saying that it is important to have indigenous weapons systems to deal with any future security challenges.

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To a question, Air Chief Marshal Singh said three units of S-400 missile systems were delivered by Russia and it promised to deliver the remaining two units by next year.

India Vs China on military growth

Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said India is training much better than China.“We have exposure much better than them. Because we do come to know through our sources how they train, how many different air forces they interact with and how many do we interact with,” the IAF chief said.

"As far as our people behind the machine are concerned, we are way ahead of them. As far as technology is concerned, we may be not so good as of now. We have lagged. We were better than them in technology also some time back. But have lagged in that and we need to catch up with it," the IAF chief said.

He added, "As far as production rates are concerned, we are way behind. We need to catch up with that. And that will happen over a period of time. It cannot happen overnight."

Air Chief Marshal Singh further added that when it comes to building the capacity,“one is capability, another one is capacity”.

“So building the capacity, it becomes important for our manufacturing agencies to come forward and increase their production rate," the IAF chief added.

'If you need to fight the war...'

He said 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.”

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"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...," Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said.

Air Chief Marshal AP Singh had taken over the command of the Indian Air Force on September 30. "Commissioned into the fighter stream in December 1984, he is an Experimental Test Pilot and has had an illustrious career spanning four decades," the Indian Air Force said.

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