“The Indian Air Force (IAF), over the last 80 years, has truly transformed into a strategic Air Force—fully ready and committed to guard our nation’s vital interests. Our capacity to embrace emerging technologies with contemporary systems and to quickly adapt to produce a range of sovereign options has always been the cornerstone of our history. We must persist with this rich legacy. And it is my pleasant duty, that on behalf of the Indian Air Force, I acknowledge with gratitude the sterling contribution made by all our veterans whose strength of character, vision and resilient spirit still pervades today’s Air Force. I also pay tribute to our fallen heroes—men and women—those who have made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty.

“The present times are both interesting and challenging. The deteriorating security situation in our neighbourhood and its frequent violent manifestations are a matter of serious concern to us. The need of the hour, therefore, is to be ever vigilant and prepared. The nation has entrusted under our care assets which are expensive and scarce. The safety and security of these is our prime responsibility. We also need to develop a security mindset which includes physical security of these assets as also security of vital communication and operational networks.

“Over the last year, our operational preparedness has remained very high. A number of operational tasks that stretched our resources were effectively completed. At the same time we ensured that the IAF’s transformation drive and operationalisation of new aircraft and equipment continued at a rapid pace. Despite the phasing out of some of our legacy aircraft, we continued to maintain a very high combat potential through raisings of new Su-30 squadrons. Our medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) induction project is also at the advanced contract negotiation stage and we hope to conclude the contract within this Financial Year itself. We are currently readying the infrastructure for the induction of C-17 Globemaster, AW-101 VVIP helicopters as well as Pilatus PC-7 basic trainer aircraft—all of which will start arriving by early next year.

“While we focus on enhancing our combat capabilities, we remain deeply committed to our important nation-building responsibilities. Our nation reposes a high degree of trust and confidence in our capabilities. IAF on its part offers to the nation both the application and transportability of national power. The transformational modernisation process, which is currently under way, will alter the very complexion of the IAF within this very decade. It is, therefore, imperative that we imbibe all the modern technologies so as to achieve strategic precision, networked and space-enabled force capabilities. We must remain mindful of the fact that our actions today will decide the future potential of the IAF. Therefore, it is imperative that we persistently maintain an operational focus. The present times certainly pose daunting challenges, but to you proud men and women in blue, they also bring immense opportunities for growth, both individually as well as together, as a service. By anchoring our actions on IAF’s vision ‘People First Mission Always’, we need to keep our focus on our people as they are the real force-multipliers.

“The Indian Air Force stands firm in its belief that ‘integrated jointness’ is indeed the way forward and that all organs of national power need to be effectively synergised to create the right capability mix. While we perfect our internal core competencies, we are working towards developing effective interfaces with the complimentary capabilities of other services. In this regard, I wish to assure the Army, the Navy and the other security agencies of our commitment towards delivering joint capability responses for all future contingencies.

“The Indian Air Force is grateful for the nation’s trust, confidence and support. On behalf of all of you, I take this opportunity to assure the nation of our commitment and resolve in defending our sovereign skies and safeguarding our national interests. On this 80th anniversary, as we honour the legacy of those who have served before us, let us all rededicate ourselves to the task of building the IAF of tomorrow.”

Jai Hind.