IAF always cautious and alert: Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa

As tensions continue between India and Pakistan over the abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa on Tuesday said the Indian Air Force (IAF) is "always cautious and alert" to check any untoward aerial movement on the border.

He also said the IAF is replacing the high-end obsolete weapon with indigenously developed ones that will boost in-house defence manufacturing, however, "to win a war, we also need high-end, high-tech items, which we need to import".

"We have seen their (Pakistan's) deployment. The Indian Air Force is always cautious. We are responsible for air defence and we are always alert," Dhanoa said when asked about the situation at the Indo-Pak border.

He was interacting with reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on "Modernisation and Indigenisation plans of the Indian Air Force" at the IAF Auditorium here.

"It is not that something has happened so we have become cautious. We are always alert. The Air Force is prepared not only when an enemy aircraft ventures in, but we also keep an eye on civilian aircraft so that incidents like Purulia airdrop do not happen," Dhanoa said.

The Line of Control (LoC) has witnessed several exchanges of fire between the Indian and Pakistani forces since the government repealed the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave a special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated the state into two Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Earlier, in his keynote address at the seminar, Dhanoa said the IAF is the fourth largest air force in the world and it has grown into a multi-spectrum air force with the use of force multipliers and other assets.

"Upgrading of legacy assets is an ongoing process and indigenisation should continue to achieve self-reliance in defence manufacturing," he said.

On aircraft, he said, "Fifth-generation fighter aircraft are the reality and the next generation one is on the drawing board."