New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS): To enhance their combat capabilities, the Indian armed forces urgently need advanced simulation technology that will be cost effective and "most importantly reduce the loss of life and equipment", a top military commander said Monday
With advanced simulators, young pilots of the Indian armed forces could hone their flying skills and get trained in dealing with all possible operational requirements, including stressful conditions,
the Indian Air Force (IAF) vice chief, Air Marshal K.K. Nohwar, said Monday.
"The present requirement of advanced simulators for providing effective training to Indian armed forces in cost effective manner is significantly high," Nohwar said while addressing a seminar on "Leveraging Simulation Technologies to Enhance Combat Potential" organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
"War gaming simulators are useful tools for carrying out analysis of deployed forces in a given set of conditions. These provide a reasonable assessment for a particular concept of operation," he said.
Nohwar said that the IAF wanted to develop a war gaming system where battle platforms and weapon systems for all services could be integrated and the simulators networked.
This would help in conducting individual as well as ground training on a common platform with a common doctrine, he added.
Nohwar also called for a strong and long-lasting partnership between industry and the armed services to meet the growing needs of simulators.
He mentioned that simulation technology was "the answer to enhance the combat capability of the Indian armed forces".
Joint warfare training on a common platform and with a common doctrine could be effectively conducted through the optimal use of simulators, he said.
Besides, Nohwar said, "the use of simulators would significantly bring down the flying costs and fuel costs and most importantly, reduce the loss of life and equipment".
Satish K. Kaura, co-chair of the CII defence committee, in his address pointed out that "good quality training of the Indian armed personnel has become the utmost necessity" in the backdrop of a highly complex environment.
"One can imagine the precious time and resources lost in mobilising troops from one place to another just for training purposes," he said, also stressing on the need of adopting simulation methods to better orient soldiers with the typical geographical conditions before they actually get deployed in inhospitable conditions.