The Indian Air Force (IAF) needs to prepare itself for intense and short duration operations at a moment's notice, and also be ready for short swift wars and long standoffs, like the one in Eastern Ladakh, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari said Thursday.
Addressing a conference on logistics management in the IAF, Chaudhari said, “The current geopolitical situation necessitates the Indian Air Force to prepare for intense and small duration operations at a short notice. This new paradigm of high-intensity operations, coupled with minimal build-up time would require major changes in terms of (operational) logistics.”
Logistics support in such a scenario would be extremely challenging, he said, because the Air Force has a “fairly vast and diversified inventory”.
“To address issues like availability of spares, I feel we need to re-evaluate demand forecasting methods and stocking philosophies. The way forward will be to have serviceability linked inventory management system. Flexible stocking policies with modern forecasting techniques would help in demand sensing and prepositioning of items at bases. We must also review our procurement strategies in order to reduce lead time for supplies and pre-empt problems of supply chain obsolescence.”
His comments come at a time when there have been concerns about the availability of spares due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, and Russia's ability to deliver them.
Chaudhari said that the IAF needs to work on an “optimal hub…
