India Defence
Published in Business & Economy
Waiting in the wings for next generation machine
The IAF has finally got a nod from MoD to replace its obsolete fleet
The Defence Minister A K Antony has finally given a thumps-up to augment the fast depleting fighter capabilities of the Indian Airforce (IAF). In another few days time, India is expected to being the procurement process for purchase of 126 multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) from the international market. The floating of this biggest ever global tender for arms procurement by India is necessitated by two reasons. Firstly, the indigenous aircraft development programme has simply been unable to attain cursing heights (The much touted Light Combat Aircraft project continues to be move at snails pace due to the absence of a quality engine and of course general lack of aviation R&D expertise in the country). Secondly, the aging and accident-prone fleet of MIG 21s too is big a cause of concern for the security establishment. The Indian government has sanctioned 45 squadrons for IAF to maintain. However, the current situation is so dismal that the paucity of hardware has caused the Squadron strengths to come down from a peak of 39 to 30. If this situation continues, the day is not far, when the IAF may be operating only about 25 squadrons, with ageing machines incapable of meeting the security threats facing the country.
The MIG 21 procurement programme which began in the 1960s continued up to late 80s (majority were produce under licence by HAL) adding almost 1000 machines in the IAF kitty. Things began to change, when the ‘revolution in military affairs’ (RMA), triggered by stupendous strides made by information and communication technologies. “Quality began to replace quantity as the concepts shifted from ‘platform centric’ to ‘network centric’ warfare. The Indian defence establishment concerned with poor avionics’ quality of the Soviet era machine and the acquisition of F-16s by Pakistan (1985), began thinking afresh,” Said Group Captain (Retd) Sukumaran, while talking to B&E. Although some inductions were made in the form of MiG 29 from Russia and Mirage 2000 from France, but the numbers were too small to make any substantial difference. The purchase of Su-30 MKI was the only comprehensive acquisition since 1988. Furthermore, inordinate delays in procurement process coupled with political & economic hassles (during the Prime Ministership of Narasimha Rao in the early 1990s) prevented the IAF from upgrading its fleet. That the old & obsolete MIG21s (125 MiG 21s have been upgraded to to Bison standard as a stop gap arrangement) still continue to be the mainstay of Indian Air Power, bears testimony to the fact that the recent acquisition proposal announced by the Defence Minster is too late & too little.
Now that we have the big fighter aircraft producers- Lockheed Martin & Boeing of the US; Eurofighter belonging to the European consortium; Sweden's SAAB & its Grippen fighter, Rafale by Dassault Aviation's and the Russian Mig 35- in the fray, India has abundance of choice to select its future war-machine. Furthermore Lockheed Marti is in the process of coming out with the "next-generation" F-16NG to meet the Indian requirements. The Israeli Soufa Avionics Package and Weapons Systems package are one of the top contenders for the IAF’s 126 MRCA.
One only hopes that under the Defence Ministership of AK Antony, the process will be smooth and corruption free. Because, the IAF needs to concentrate on flying and maintaining the machines rather than answering stupid parliamentary queries related to illegal transactions by middlemen.
The IAF has finally got a nod from MoD to replace its obsolete fleet
The Defence Minister A K Antony has finally given a thumps-up to augment the fast depleting fighter capabilities of the Indian Airforce (IAF). In another few days time, India is expected to being the procurement process for purchase of 126 multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) from the international market. The floating of this biggest ever global tender for arms procurement by India is necessitated by two reasons. Firstly, the indigenous aircraft development programme has simply been unable to attain cursing heights (The much touted Light Combat Aircraft project continues to be move at snails pace due to the absence of a quality engine and of course general lack of aviation R&D expertise in the country). Secondly, the aging and accident-prone fleet of MIG 21s too is big a cause of concern for the security establishment. The Indian government has sanctioned 45 squadrons for IAF to maintain. However, the current situation is so dismal that the paucity of hardware has caused the Squadron strengths to come down from a peak of 39 to 30. If this situation continues, the day is not far, when the IAF may be operating only about 25 squadrons, with ageing machines incapable of meeting the security threats facing the country.
The MIG 21 procurement programme which began in the 1960s continued up to late 80s (majority were produce under licence by HAL) adding almost 1000 machines in the IAF kitty. Things began to change, when the ‘revolution in military affairs’ (RMA), triggered by stupendous strides made by information and communication technologies. “Quality began to replace quantity as the concepts shifted from ‘platform centric’ to ‘network centric’ warfare. The Indian defence establishment concerned with poor avionics’ quality of the Soviet era machine and the acquisition of F-16s by Pakistan (1985), began thinking afresh,” Said Group Captain (Retd) Sukumaran, while talking to B&E. Although some inductions were made in the form of MiG 29 from Russia and Mirage 2000 from France, but the numbers were too small to make any substantial difference. The purchase of Su-30 MKI was the only comprehensive acquisition since 1988. Furthermore, inordinate delays in procurement process coupled with political & economic hassles (during the Prime Ministership of Narasimha Rao in the early 1990s) prevented the IAF from upgrading its fleet. That the old & obsolete MIG21s (125 MiG 21s have been upgraded to to Bison standard as a stop gap arrangement) still continue to be the mainstay of Indian Air Power, bears testimony to the fact that the recent acquisition proposal announced by the Defence Minster is too late & too little.
Now that we have the big fighter aircraft producers- Lockheed Martin & Boeing of the US; Eurofighter belonging to the European consortium; Sweden's SAAB & its Grippen fighter, Rafale by Dassault Aviation's and the Russian Mig 35- in the fray, India has abundance of choice to select its future war-machine. Furthermore Lockheed Marti is in the process of coming out with the "next-generation" F-16NG to meet the Indian requirements. The Israeli Soufa Avionics Package and Weapons Systems package are one of the top contenders for the IAF’s 126 MRCA.
One only hopes that under the Defence Ministership of AK Antony, the process will be smooth and corruption free. Because, the IAF needs to concentrate on flying and maintaining the machines rather than answering stupid parliamentary queries related to illegal transactions by middlemen.
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