Ahead of the 2014 general election, the Bharatiya Janata Party, in its manifesto, had highlighted how India’s “sensitive neighbourhood” and “internal security issues” had led to loss of the Indian Air Force fighter aircraft squadrons, and that there was a need to “review” and “overhaul” the then existing system. However, in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament, the Defence Ministry informed that the government “will not have added even one squadron to the IAF in its five-year term,” according to a Business Standard report.
While answering a question by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, who asked for revised estimates of the 2017-18 budget for the ministry and allocation for the air force, the Defence Ministry said that the “IAF will have 32 fighter squadrons and 39 helicopter units by 2020.”
The Business Standard report said that BJP had fielded 34-35 squadrons by 2020 after winning the 2014 election.
The reason listed for the decline was the government’s “inability” to replace three squadrons of MiG-21s that will be phased out by 2020. The situation will worsen by 2025, said the report, as 10 IAF squadrons of MiG-21 and MiG-27 aircraft will retire by 2024.
“Shortfall Foreseen in 2000”
The government has procured two squadrons of Rafale fighter jets from France while two squadrons of Tejas Mark 1 and four of Tejas Mark 1A, being built by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), are still under process.
The HAL is supposed to deliver two Sukhoi-30MKI squadrons, after which its supply will end in 2019.
Two Rafale squadrons will also be supplied between 2019 and 2022, along with six Tejas squadrons, but the report said that the induction will be offset as two Jaguar fighter squadrons will retire in the early 2020s.
With these 10 squadrons entering, and 12 retiring (10 MiG and two Jaguars), it will be a tenuous task for the IAF to maintain its 32-squadron fleet.
“The shortfall was foreseen by the air headquarters in 2000,” a retired Air Marshal told The Quint on conditions of anonymity.
A proposal was soon created to acquire six squadrons of lightweight combat vehicles, but had to be revised after Krishnaswamy took over as the Air Chief Marshal in December 2001. A Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued by the Ministry of Defence in 2007 and post evaluation by the IAF, Dassault was selected in 2012 to supply 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) to India.
This development too hit a logjam after Dassault did not want to partner with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) over low-quality standards.
“All Efforts Went Down the Drain”
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, he met with the then French President Francois Hollande the very next year and decided that India would purchase 36 Rafale aircraft in “fly away” condition, and no aircraft will be manufactured in India.
“This made Dassault happy and the tender for 126 aircrafts was cancelled. All the efforts that had been made since 2007 went down the drain,” added the retired Air Marshal.
He said that former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar “was sensible enough to accept the issue and said we will get someone to manufacture single light-weight aircraft in India in large numbers”.
A Request for Information was then released to which American aerospace and defence company Lockheed Martin and Sweden’s SAAB responded. They want to shift their production line to India, but the process hit a roadblock.
“The reason,” elaborated the official is “the bureaucrats are asking why single-engine aircrafts and why not expand the scope? We are back to square one again.”
The report had put forth alternatives for the government to expand its fleet by proposing that the Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) must be put on the “fast track”. The retired officer said, “It will most probably fail as Multi-role aircrafts have failed. Lockheed’s F16 was the shortest route”.
“IAF Cannot Be Anemic”
Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak told The Quint that the solution to address the shortage can be done in three steps. “First, instead of two Rafale squadrons, we need four. Second, we need to increase the induction of F16s and also look for advanced aircrafts. Lastly, the Light Combat Aircraft programme should be hastened. IAF cannot be anemic.”
He said that India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative is encouraging, but “indigenous aircrafts cannot meet the quality requirement for the next 10-15 years.”
(With inputs from Business Standard.)
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