Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari said the Indian Air Force needs to be rapidly modernized.

New Delhi: Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari said that China poses a significant long term challenge to India's strategic goals. He said it should be made clear to the world that today's India has the capability and will to respond at a level that the nation deems appropriate.

"China poses a significant and long-term challenge to India's strategic goals. Both People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) have enhanced their military capabilities in equipment and infrastructure. The Indian Air Force (IAF) needs to be rapidly modernized, expand its fleet and improve indigenous manufacturing capabilities," the IAF chief said at a seminar conducted by the Centre for Air Power Studies.

The IAF needs to be rapidly modernized, expand its fleet and improve indigenous manufacturing capabilities, he urged.

The IAF chief said that China's hegemonic and entrapping policies can provide opportunities for India to leverage in trade and military domains.

He also asserted that India has demonstrated its capabilities during a standoff on the northern border while simultaneously handling the national COVID-19 response.

"In the future, we could be attacked from all fronts, starting from economic strangulation to diplomatic isolation and military stand-offs to information blackouts, in the form of attack by a distributed denial of services. We will need to prepare for the full spectrum," the Air Force chief cautioned.