He, however, said that the Army was capable of meeting the situation on its own as they have unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). He echoing Army chief Bikram Singh he termed it as a “localised operation” and not a Kargil-like operation.

'All the means are fully available with army. If they still need some assistance, we are there to provide it. There is no problem,' the Air Chief Marshal said in reply to a query at a press conference on the eve of the Air Force Day.

Browne, who is also Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, however, agreed with security concerns over the increasing violations along the Line of Control and said there have been far more cases this year than in the last two-three years.

He said that the IAF was operating with 'much less' aircraft than its authorised strength of 42 combat squadrons and in case of any further delay in the proposed 126 fighter jet deal, the force levels in the service will 'go down rapidly.'

Browne also said that IAF ask for an early decision on VVIP choppers as it has told the government that the Mi-8 helicopters being used to ferry dignitaries would be phased out from next year.

'There is a CBI case (in the chopper scam) going on here and Italian investigations are happening in Milan. We have informed the government that the Mi-8 choppers which we were using are now going to be phased out from next year,” he said.

The Defence Ministry had frozen the contract after allegations against top officials of the Anglo-Italian firm for paying kickbacks to Indian officials to secure the contract.

Regarding authorisation for 42 squadrons of figher aircraft, he said :” Presently, we are much less than that... In the 12th and 13th Plan (2012-2022), we have to maintain a certain force level because that is where the maximum draw down is taking place. So, we lose a number of squadrons in these two plan periods.'

He said that in case the IAF does not get Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) by the end of the 12th Plan in 2017, then the force levels will to go down rapidly.

The Air Force is in the process of procuring 126 Rafale combat aircraft from French firm Dassault Aviation and had chosen it after an extensive trial phase in April 2012.