This 15-week course may be merged with the National Defense University program when fully operational.I
By Vikas Gupta
Defence News of India, 29 Jun 23
While the Indian Army is already operating strategically across a 3,488 kilometer border with China and the Maritime Forces are clear on their intention to become a “blue water navy”, the Indian Air Force ( IAF) is also changing its force platforms and senior officer training to a program worthy of a strategic air force that projects power throughout the region.
To that end, the IAF on Wednesday concluded a 15-week strategic training program for its senior officers to gain a thorough understanding of strategy, rather than planning operations from a mere tactical perspective.
This took the form of the Warfare and Aerospace Strategy Program (WASP) – a 15-week program, conducted under the aegis of the College of Air Warfare and the Center for Air Power Studies.
‘The wider aim is to develop critical thinkers who can combine cross-domain knowledge to generate insights that guide policy at the strategic level,’ the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said today.
The WASP course saw eight IAF officers undergo intensive training in the areas of strategy, military history, civil-military relations, superior defense organization, aerospace power, warfare information, technology and hybrid warfare.
These are some of the elements that characterize combat operations today, as was evident in the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and played out in the Russian-Ukrainian conflicts of the previous decade.
Today’s tactical and strategic battlefield is dominated by a high level of transparency, digital communications, and precision-guided weapons day and night.
There is considerable interest within the military for this latest training program. The keynote address by IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari brought together senior military officers, defense attachés, senior government officials, aerospace power specialists, academics and defense correspondents.
The IAF chief said that “the effort of programs such as WASP is to prepare future military leaders in the cerebral realm…leading to the question of ‘how to think’, rather than ‘what to think’.
Chaudhari said this self-learning will enable tomorrow’s leaders to think creatively and continuously evolve their strategy as the strategic environment changes around them.
“The Air Force chief said that ’emerging technologies will remain symbiotic with the human intellect, necessitating the need to continuously absorb and adapt to it.’
Chaudhari said he was happy to see the performance of the officers who underwent the first WASP last year. He said he looked forward to these officers taking on key positions within the IAF.
Finally, the CAS commended the mentors who had guided the cadets through the program and urged them to continue with the same zeal in future editions of WASP.
It is also likely, senior IAF officers said, that the 15-week course could be incorporated into the National Defense University (NDU) curriculum, when it is fully operational.
