NEW DELHI: The Indian Army has decided to send its Army Air Defence (AAD) officers to Israel for a course pertaining to Air Defence Missiles. The officers are of the rank of Major and Lieutenant Colonel.
Speaking to this newspaper, an officer said, “Four officers have been selected to go to Israel for training in Air Defence Missiles. The duration of the course is of one year.”
The selected officers will be trained on medium range surface-to-air missiles, the officer added. After completing the course, these officers will return to train the other soldiers and will command new units.
The AAD provides air defence by securing some of the country’s most important defence installations such as air bases, power plants, dams, oil refineries, ammunition depots and nuclear installations. The primary responsibility of safeguarding the country’s territorial sovereignity lies with the Air Force.
Lieutenant General VK Chaturvedi (Retd) said the country’s air defence is in dire need of an upgrade. He said this is not only the right course with regard to on-the-job training, but will also help train others. The demand for modernisation of the Army’s Air Defence Corps has been raised since long.
Most of the air defence equipment are either in obsolete or in obsolescence stage. Steps are being taken to fill the gaps in air defence. While DRDO is in the process of developing Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missiles, four regiments of Akash air defence missiles are also in the works.