The Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari gave a lecture in a seminar on Tuesday (18 April) and talked about the use of advanced long-range technologies in modern wars.

The IAF chief outlined that sensors, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), long-range missiles, and manned-unmanned teaming will define the future of air power in wars.

The IAF chief was speaking at the inaugration of the Air Force Arjan Singh Memorial seminar organised by the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS). The theme of the seminar is ‘Aerospace Power: Pivot to Future Battle Space Operations’.

The seminar will be an annual event, the Director General of CAPS Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd) said.

“To see first and see clearly, to reach first and reach the farthest and to strike first and strike with precision will be the mantra for fighting modern wars,” the IAF chief said in his lecture.

"India's security concerns necessitate that it puts in place adequate military power that has the ability to achieve deterrence, ensure information dominance, coerce when needed and provide multiple response options," the chief added.

"Over the last few decades, the understanding of a military operational environment has significantly transformed into simultaneous, parallel and independent operations across multiple domains, the battle space in the land, sea, air, cyber and space domain," Chaudhari said.

"The future battle space will be complex with technology dependence, asymmetric threats, high tempo operations, and increased lethality," he added.

To counter the world's volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, it's necessary to evolve with stability and calmness, according to the IAF chief.

"The world is increasingly becoming volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, it is high time that we develop counters. We must evolve to counter the volatile with stability and calmness,” the IAF chief said.

Aerospace power has become a dominant military tool due to its impressive capabilities. High speed, reduced response time, long reach, and increased mobility enable this power to be network-centric and generate a shock effect, the Air Chief Marshal said.

He added, "it has technological intensity with precision firepower that makes it robust. In addition, aerospace power can be deployed in a no war, no peace scenario, such as Operation Balakot, without escalating into a full-blown conflict, which highlights its significance in the presence of a nuclear overhang".

Aerospace power and control will be essential in upcoming battle space operations. Technology must be utilised to achieve this goal, as commanding the airspace in different domains will prove imperative in the future.