“ASTE has served as a vital link across the full spectrum of design, development, testing, evaluation, operationalization and training with respect to warfare equipment and personnel. The moment came from increasing your reach to integrate seamlessly with the industry, certified community (flight testing) and end users to make it an all stakeholder approach,” he said.
The Air Chief Marshal was speaking at the launch of a two-day seminar on ‘Lessons from the Past: Opportunities for the Future’, which was organized to mark the Golden Jubilee of the ASTE.
He said that ASTE has the unique feature of collaborating with the Indian defense industry and participating in the design and development activity by supporting the research and development efforts of defense laboratories.
The IAF chief appealed to ASTE and the Air Force Test Pilot School (AFTPS) to tap into the opportunity arising from the growth of the aerospace industry in the country.
“The Indian aerospace ecosystem is witnessing unprecedented growth towards becoming self-sufficient. The push towards domestic manufacturing and strengthening public-private partnerships has presented a wealth of opportunities for our flight test community to engage proactively and contribute effectively to the achievement of national goals,” the IAF said. said the chief.
Stating that flight testing is a unique and specialized field, the Air Chief Marshal said it was important to share best practices and ethics.
“Institutions around the world are investing heavily in training human resources, building supporting infrastructure, and creating safe and conducive ecosystems for effective flight test activity. As a result, transactional relationships and interactions among peers are of significant importance in this regard,” the IAF chief added.
He called on participants to extract the best knowledge possible during the two-day seminar.
“We need to learn the right lessons from the past, understand contemporary challenges, and define our testing philosophy and methodology to maximize security,” he noted.
“Optimizing efforts and minimizing program costs and delays. Using new technologies such as artificial intelligence, simulators and big data analysis to reduce our flight efforts will go a long way in improving our training methodology and testing,” the Air Chief Marshal said.
Chaudhari praised the ASTE saying it is a saga of professional excellence, which has a singular focus on autonomy in the field of flight testing.
ASTE has spearheaded the modernization and operation of the Indian Air Force over the years, the Air Chief Marshal said.
He added that the pilot training school under the ASTE umbrella has been instrumental in identifying and nurturing the right human capital needed to undertake complex tasks in the challenging field of flight testing. .
“The Air Force Pilot Training School has become a center of excellence for delivering high quality training and producing a world-class test group capable of meeting all the challenges associated with flight testing,” he said. underline.