No single service can win a war on its own: IAF chief VR Chaudhari

"There is a need to plan for integrated and joint application of combat power. The key to success in multi domain operations is to have flexible, robust and redundant Command and Control Structures which will allow a joint force to dominate across domains," the IAF Chief said.

"No single service can win a war on its own, work is in progress to enhance jointness amongst the three services," he added.

The Indian Air Force has earlier expressed its reservations with regards to the major reorganization exercise of the structure of the Armed Forces into theatres. However, the IAF Chief had said that the service was not opposing any process of integration or having theatre commands.

The IAF Chief said that the traditional domains of land, sea and air have expanded to include space and cyber.

"We are increasingly seeing the convergence of all these domains into one continuum in the form of Hybrid Warfare.

"The use of non-kinetic and non-lethal warfare to supplement kinetic means has changed the way wars will be prosecuted," he said.

The IAF Chief emphasised that conventional systems and weapons need to be augmented by modern, flexible and adaptive technology.

"Technology has given us the wherewithal to be innovative. We need to accept the fact that tomorrow’s conflicts cannot be fought with yesterday’s mind-set," the Air Chief Marshal said.

The IAF Chief said that the advent of drones, swarm drones, hypersonic weapons and space based ISR systems have added a new dimension to war fighting.

He said that to effectively handle the full spectrum, artificial intelligence is being used for quicker decision making and analysis of big data.

"I am happy to report that several projects are well underway to utilise the potential of Automation, Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence to transform our operational philosophy," he said.

Terming the induction of Air Warriors into the IAF through the Agnipath scheme "challenge", the officer said that the IAF would be inducting 3000 Agniveer Vayu for their initial training in December this year and the numbers will go up in the years to come.

"We have changed our operational training methodology to ensure each Agniveer is equipped with the right skills and knowledge to start their career in the Air Force," the IAF Chief said.

"We are also planning on induction of Women Agniveers starting next year. Creation of infrastructure is in progress and streamlining of trade structure is being finalised," he added.

In a break from tradition, the IAF has decided to conduct the Air Force Day main function outside the National Capital Region from this year.