Chandigarh, Nov 13: Western Air Command Chief A K Singh today said that india and Pakistan needed to demarcate boundaries before taking any decision on demilitarising
Siachen glacier.
"I personally feel that we need to demarcate the area so that tomorrow no counter claims are made," Air Officer Commanding Air Marshal A K Singh, who was on an inspection
visit to the air force station highgrounds here, said.
He made it clear that any decision on Siachen would be taken by the government.
The Western Air Command provides critical support to the army in maintaining troops on Siachen where altitudes range between 15,000 feet and 25,000 feet.
Talking to reporters at the station's technical type training (TETTRA) school, he said the purchase of 126 multi-role combat aircraft was still in the pipeline and the
MiG-29s and MiG-27s were being upgraded.
Singh said the upgradation would cost less even though the force may have to take the help of the Russian manufacturers.
To another question, he said the airborne early warning and control systems Phalcons from Israel were likely to be delivered by 2008.
Asked if some of them could be located in Chandigarh, he said, "As of now we have no such plans. For strategic reasons we may like to locate them somewhere else.”
He said that the new version of Dhruv helicopters would be upgraded and fitted with an engine called Shakti which would make them suitable for operation at high altitudes and
enable them to perform varied tasks.
Bureau Report
