IAF to expand strategic horizons

New Delhi: Perhaps for the first time India's armed forces are consciously re-orienting their domestic approach to defence issues towards an internationalist, indeed, a more interventionist one. According to Indian Air Force chief, air chief marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne, the air force will develop capabilities to land in, take off from and deploy in countries around the Indian Ocean rim to ''wherever India's interests lie''.

''I expect that at least by 2022, we are capable of taking care of India's interests not only at home, but also abroad,'' ACM NAK Browne said today, speaking at the IAF's annual press conference ahead of IAF Day on 8 October.

''So far, our interest was defined from the Gulf of Aden (in the west) to the Straits of Malacca (in the east) but, as experience in Libya and other countries have taught us, we have to be able to reach wherever we have our interests,'' he said.

The Indian Air Force maintains a low-profile presence at just one foreign base, located at Farkhor/Ayni in Tajikistan.

But a build-up in India's strategic outreach militarily will not be geared to ''fight other people's wars'', the air chief marshal said. ''There is a big difference between expanding 'strategic reach' and being 'expeditionary','' ACM Browne said.

The militaries of western developed countries, such as the US and the UK, are ''expeditionary'', meaning that they engage in conflicts thousands of kilometres from their own territories. India's focus will remain on airlifting, search and rescue and missions guarding Indian business assets overseas.