PM for further developing Air Force thru\\\' training

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday underscored the need for improved training for members of the Air Force for attaining professional excellence saying they will have to develop themselves as efficient and ideal Air Force personnel. ‘Attaining professional efficiency is very important for members of the Air Force as it increases self-confidence on one hand while helps earn fame and dignity for the organisation on the other,’ she said while addressing a function of awarding the National Standard to Bangladesh Air Force Base Zahurul Haque in Chittagong. Alongside this, Hasina said, they will have to keep in mind the history and the supreme sacrifices of millions of people for the country’s independence. Terming the country’s Air Force as a traditional one, the Prime Minister said it has a glorious history of sacrifices during the country’s great Liberation War and its members with only one Alouette helicopter, One DC-3 and one Auter Biman fought with unprecedented efficiency against the occupation forces. The nation will ever remember the courageous contributions of the Air Force officials, including those who performed their responsibility as sector commanders, she said. Recalling the great contribution of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in developing the Air Force, Hasina said Bangabandhu collected supersonic MIG-21 and took massive initiatives to modernise it. Following the footprint of Bangabandhu, the Prime Minister said, the government has been working to make the Air Force a time-befitting and smart one in the light of ‘Forces Goal 2030’. She said the government implemented massive programmes for the development of Air Force after assuming office in 1996 and collected the Fourth Generation MiG-29 Fighter Planes, large capacity C-130 Cargo Planes and high powered Air Protecting RADAR system, according to a news agency.