Modern conflicts can’t be fought with old mindset: IAF Chief at graduation parade

New Delhi, June 15

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on Saturday said “tomorrow’s conflicts cannot be fought with yesterday’s mindset”, stressing the expected changes in technology and how these would impact future wars.

Bijnor lad adjudged overall best cadet

• The President’s Plaque and the Chief of Air Staff’s Sword of Honour for being the overall best cadet was awarded to Flying Officer Happy Singh from the Flying Branch, who hails from Bijnor, UP
• Flying Officer Taufeeq Raza was awarded the President’s Plaque for being first in the overall order of merit in the ground duty officers’ course
• Flying Officer Akashdeep Singh from Gurdaspur too passed out. He is the son of a soldier in the Defence Security Corps that is tasked to provide security to key installations. He will join the Flying Branch

The IAF Chief was speaking at the combined graduation parade at the Air Force Academy (AFA), Hyderabad. In all, 235 flight cadets of flying and ground duty branches of the IAF passed out of AFA.

He said the year 2024 was declared as the year of “transformation through upskilling. All newly commissioned officers need to learn different skills in order to become ‘multi-domain leaders”.

Speaking on modern warfare, the IAf Chief reminded the passing-out cadets that modern warfare is dynamic and ever evolving, and increasingly influenced by complex data networks and advanced cyber technologies. “As leaders, you all need to adopt, innovate and leverage technology effectively for proving decisive in winning wars,” Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari added.

Talking about the core values of the IAF – mission integrity and excellence — the IAF Chief said mission accomplishment was of utmost importance and vital for maintaining the direction, efficiency and overall success of an organisation.

The graduating officers included 22 women who got commissioned in various branches of the IAF. Nine officers from the Navy, nine from the Indian Coast Guard and the lone cadet from a foreign country were awarded ‘wings’ on successful completion of flying training. This is also the first time that 25 cadets who joined the NDA four years ago for ‘ground duty’, were commissioned as officers.