New Delhi, April 11
Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi today again said the government was exploring ways and means to harness the outer space which would assume importance in a futuristic scenario.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a symposium on ‘Energising Indian Aerospace Industry’ here the Air Chief said that a debate was underway in the country on the ways and means to exploit the outer space and stratosphere in future terms.
He stressed that the IAF had not given up the idea of Aerospace Command and pointed that in fact there was no hitch and the discussions were underway on how to shape it. “We are looking forward to it,” he said.
He, however, admitted that the force was facing a problem as far a exodus of pilots was concerned but was quick to stress that it was not a ‘big problem’.
“If everybody is thinking there is a big exodus and there is a big problem, I have a problem but it’s not a big one,” he said.
“Where you get these numbers from I don’t know,” he said when asked about a BBC report that some 200 IAF pilots wanted to quit but were being prevented from doing so.
Holding that there “always were some” pilots wanting to leave and there were some applications pending, he said: “It’s in single digits.”
According to the Air Chief, the IAF was “discouraging pilots from going because of our needs. We keep calculating how many we need, when will they come, how many years it will take to train them, that’s a regular exercise.
“We allow pilots to go depending on our needs. Suppose I have 100 aeroplanes and I have 95 pilots, obviously I can’t let them go.
“But if I have 100 aeroplanes and I have got 105 pilots, maybe I can let five of them go,” he pointed out.
Earlier, inaugurating the symposium Air Chief Marshal Tyagi proposed the setting up of an aerospace commission to prepare a roadmap for sustained development of aviation related industries and mooted joint ventures with global companies as a vehicle for acquiring advanced systems and aircraft.
He, however, cautioned that such a commission should not be used as a tool for imposing control over the industry, which has “tremendous” potential to develop, both in civilian and military sectors.
