Indian Air Force helicopters have dropped 1,39,800 litres of water to contain a major wildfire in the Walong area of Arunachal Pradesh, while firefighting operations are continuing in Nagaland’s Dzukou Valley.

According to official information, Mi-17 V5 heavy-lift helicopters were deployed for the aerial firefighting mission in Arunachal. The operations were carried out in challenging conditions, including steep mountainous terrain, low visibility and high-altitude thin air near Japfu Peak.

In Nagaland, the IAF is supporting efforts to control flames in the Dzukou Valley, a region known for its difficult terrain. Helicopter crews are drawing water from Padumpokhiri Lake near Dimapur to conduct repeated sorties over the affected areas.

The operations are being coordinated with local authorities to prevent the spread of the fire and minimise damage to forest areas.

Meanwhile, Air Vice Marshal Ajay Kunnath, speaking at the AI Impact Summit, highlighted the need for the Indian Air Force to integrate artificial intelligence into air operations. In an interaction with ANI, he said the force must move from deterministic systems to probabilistic AI models while operating in a “zero-error” environment.

He stated that building trust in failsafe and autonomous systems is essential, and outlined a progression from “human in the loop” decision-making to higher levels of autonomy. Kunnath also cautioned against the indiscriminate application of AI across all domains and stressed the importance of improving accuracy levels, noting that even small errors could have critical consequences in air operations.