610 cadets passout from IMA

Dehra Dun, June 10 (UNI) Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi today said the technological advancement has pervaded the military thought and planning and 'Man behind the machine' plays a decisive role in the battle.

ACM Tyagi was here to review the passing out parade of the new army officers from Indian Military Academy. He stressed that armed forces should keep pace with the change.

After reviewing the passing out parade at IMA parade ground he urged the officers to maintain high degree of morale and ethical standard and discipline and asked them to learn to harness to their advantage the overwhelmed impact of cutting edge defence technologies. ''There is no room for complacency,'' he said.

A total of 610 gentlemen cadets, including 16 foreign cadets (13 from Bhutan and one each from Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and Mauritius), passed out from the IMA.

Sword of Honour, the most prestigious award given to the best all round Gentlemen Cadet went to Ashish Singh Mehta. He was also conferred with the Gold Medal for standing first in order of merit.

Later, talking to mediapersons, Tyagi said the Air Force was planning to acquire 126 aircraft. However, he did not divulge any details about it as of what kind, from where and when the deal was to be struck. Meanwhile, he said the Air Force would go for an exchange of 18 worn-out Sukhoi aircraft in the near future.

Maintaining that the accident rate of fighter aircraft has gone down, he said there was no problem with MiG-29.

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