IAF ‘well-positioned’, China can’t get better of us: Air Chief Bhadauria on eastern Ladakh

New Delhi: The chief of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on Monday said that the IAF is very “well-positioned” to deal with any threat and very strong deployments have been made in all relevant areas considering the security scenario. “We are deployed strongly to deal with any contingency,” IAF Chief said on the question of threat from China in Ladakh.

Addressing a press conference ahead of Air Force Day on October 8, Bhadauria said that China has its own areas of strength but “we have catered for all scenarios and are fully capable of handling any threat.”

Emerging threats mandate us to have robust capabilities of IAF and the Induction of Rafale has given us the operational edge said the Air Chief.

Watch what he said:

We are very well positioned and there is no question that in any conflict scenario there, China can get the better of us: IAF chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria when asked ‘Do we have an edge over China in terms of Air Force in Ladakh’ https://t.co/wgozvMh0B8

— ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2020

He also said that the IAF is prepared to deal with a two-front war along the northern and western borders if such a scenario arises. “Be rest assured that we have deployed strongly to deal with any contingency,” the IAF chief said when asked about the situation in eastern Ladakh and possible threat from China in the region.

India and China have been locked in a bitter border standoff in eastern Ladakh for the past five months. Both sides have held a series of diplomatic and military talks to resolve the row. However, no breakthrough has been achieved to end the standoff. The armies of the two countries are scheduled to hold a fresh round of talks on October 12 with a specific agenda of firming up a roadmap for disengagement of troops from all friction points.

The current progress, he said, was slow and there is an increase in the effort to dig-in for winter in terms of forces on ground and deployment of air assets in airfields close by. “Defence forces see the ground reality after that. Our further action will depend on ground realities,” he told reporters.