BANGALORE: Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi on Wednesday stressed the need for the Indian Air Force (IAF) to identify similarities with the business processes of the information technology industry to reshape its own business processes. For this, the IAF will have to think "out of the box," he said.

Inaugurating a two-day seminar on "IT challenges in IAF: today and tomorrow" here, Air Chief Marshal Tyagi said the IAF requires an over-arching IT architecture that drew on the Internet and best commercial practices. The IAF, he said, is a technology intensive service that uses high-end hardware and software systems for airborne and ground-based applications.

The seminar was attended by senior commanders of the IAF and leading personalities from the IT industry. In his address, Wipro Technologies chairman Azim Premji said the seminar signifies a major stride forward in the relationship between the IAF and the Indian IT companies.

To create a superior Air Force, India has to indigenise high-tech research and development, design and develop integrated defence systems.

Air Marshal B.N. Gokhale, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command, said the IAF has achieved a fair degree of success in developing IT solutions in operational and other administrative areas. The IAF's specific needs and security concerns had somewhat dictated that these solutions be developed inhouse.

He said the IAF had a lot to learn from the civil sector, and urged the industry to have a greater participation in defence applications.

Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal A.K. Nagalia said the IAF is embarking upon IT initiatives to have greater reach and application, shrinking distance and time domains to facilitate timely decision-making.

Exhibition held

Later, the Air Chief visited the exhibition kiosks put up by IT companies such as Wipro Technologies, TCS, HCL Infosystems, Meltronics and Flightline.

The IAF had also put up two kiosks by Software Development Institute, Bangalore, and Software Development Centre, New Delhi, showcasing the avionics, simulation and workflow automation software development in-house.

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