Air Chief Marshal A P Singh backs joint warfare, says future wars cannot be fought in silos

Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh speaks during the commissioning ceremony of INS Malvan at Karwar, in Uttara Kannada on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. | Photo Credit: ANI

Air Chief Marshal A P Singh, who previously had expressed reservations over theaterisation of command, on Wednesday said future wars cannot be fought in silos and that all services will “have to fight together as one nation” to succeed.

The Chief of Air Staff made this remark during his address over the commissioning of INS Malvan, the second of the Mahe-class Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC), into the Indian Navy at Karwar, Karnataka.

Chief Marshal Singh called for expeditious development of military technologies for keeping them relevant as “technology delayed is technology denied”.

“No future war is going to be fought by an individual service. All of us, whether we are in blues (IAF), whites (Navy), or OGs (Olive Green of the Army), or whichever colour, whether we are in allied services, we all have to fight together as one nation, and then only we will succeed,” he said at a time when the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is veering towards finalisation of jointness of tri-services.

According to him, over the last four to five years, the collective mission towards theaterisation gained momentum, especially after the creation of the Chief of Defence Staff post, and will continue to “move forward together and bring glory to the nation.”

Maritime security and self-reliance in focus

The IAF chief also emphasised the importance of maritime security for India’s growth. “We all understand how important maritime security and the maritime power for India’s growth are. Because any nation, they say, the maritime routes decide your trade and your trade decides your destiny. And as far as India is concerned, we all understand how important the Indian Ocean region is to us,” he said.

Indicating the Iran-US conflict, Singh said that developments around the world in recent times have strengthened the belief that no country can succeed unless it has secured sea lines of communication and free trade.

He complimented the Indian Navy for playing a vital role in securing sea lines of communication and ensuring that Indian trade and economic growth continue unhindered.

Navy’s indigenous model a lesson for the IAF

Singh admitted that the Indian Navy had moved much earlier on the path of self-reliance and had achieved significant progress in indigenous shipbuilding capabilities -- a model to emulate for the IAF.

“I just hope that the other two services, especially the Indian Air Force, learn the lesson as to how the Indian Navy has been able to get this whole concept right, where you have your Indian Navy officers who are embedded in your shipbuilding right from the beginning,” he said.

The Chief Marshal also stated that these people grow up in the same chain and become the most senior in those shipyards. “And even after retirement, they continue to render the services. Something similar, I think, the Indian Air Force has to adopt to make sure that even in the aviation sector, our self-reliance, our dream of being self-reliant becomes a reality and becomes a reality soon,” he said.

He noted that the IAF was steadily advancing toward achieving its dream of self-reliance. “The Indian Navy adopted this vision of self-reliance very early on. In fact, it is we who took longer, because different sectors require different amounts of time to develop,” he added.

INS Malvan commissioned into the Indian Navy

The INS Malvan’s commissioning ceremony was attended by Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, senior naval officers, veterans and representatives of state-run Cochin Shipyard Ltd.

The ASW-SWC project reinforces India’s expanding ecosystem of naval design, equipment, and system integration, with over 80 per cent indigenous content, the Indian Navy said.

Published on July 22, 2026