Posted on 02/26/2016 2:50:46 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force has just 32 squadrons of fighters - the lowest in a decade - to guard the Indian skies, top IAF commanders have confirmed to NDTV.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has flagged the worry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and made a detailed presentation recently on the operational difficulties that the IAF faces because of the depletion in fighters.
After the air force de-commissioned three of the aging Russian-made MiG 21 squadrons, bringing down the total number from 34 to 31 fighter squadrons, an additional squadron of the Russian-made Su-30 MKI has been raised.
The Indian Air Force needs at least 42 squadrons of fighters to protect its western and northern borders with Pakistan and China. By 2019 -2020 it will lose another 14 squadrons of the vintage MiG 21s and MiG 27s. There are 16-18 planes in one squadron.
The force now depends on Su-30 MKI and MiG 29s, the British-made Jaguar and French-made Mirage 2000s. An upgrade of the Jaguar fighters being carried out by the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited or HAL has been delayed by two years.
The government's plan to plug operational gaps by inducting 36 French-made Rafale fighters and with indigenously made Tejas fighters too hasn't come through yet.
Commercial negotiations with France for the Rafale are far from over and although the IAF has agreed to induct Tejas fighters, it is yet to get the first aircraft.
The Tejas - which was showcased at the Baharin air show for the first time this year - has not yet got a Final Operational Clearance (FOC).
The aircraft - in the making for over 3 decades - had several deficiencies, which are now being addressed by HAL in consultation with the IAF.
"Its performance at Baharin was however encouraging and we hope the FOC comes through soon," a senior officer said, adding, the "IAF is ready to induct as many Tejas fighters as possible to plug the gaps."
"Till recently, we were more interested in defending the process of acquisition, then the outcome, and as a result no one really cared about requirements and operational preparedness," the officer said, referring to the decade-long talks to acquire medium multi-role fighters from France, which the Narendra Modi government had to cancel because of severe infirmities in the negotiations.
it’d be nice if they could just take over “Pakistan” and unify India. And then of course convert the Islams.
A couple of years ago when I was trying to convince my company at the time to develop a business in India. I tracked their military closely. At the time they had planes literally falling apart on training missions. They have a lot of self-induced problems. The first of which is an insane, political and bribery requiring acquisition process. Bribery is required from the lowest level, say to get into see an official, to the highest level. Even then, when you have paid all the bribes numerous politicians can cancel a done deal. Since that time they have attempted to cut down on the bribery. But the approval process is insanely long. The negotiations appear to be never ending, even after you have ink on the page.
The Indian acquisition process makes working for the US Army or Navy seem like selling coffee at McDonald’s.
On a positive note, they have 15,000 air traffic controllers working in a call center at $2/hr.
And no, their pilots can’t understand them either.
And we care about the Indian (part of BRICS, who are hostile to America) military why?
voice India has an air force? Who knew? lol
The obama effect goes global.
“And we care about the Indian (part of BRICS, who are hostile to America) military why?”
You just never know, India might become a major ally to counter China. World politics can be fluid, yesterdays enemy can become tomorrow ally, and vise versa. The founding fathers knew this when they advised future American leaders, “avoid entangling alliances” and “treat all foreign nations justly”.
May be because it has been one of the largest buyers of U.S. weaponry for more than a decade now.
I thought Indians only used bows and arrows and tomahawks!
Because China and India are hostile to each other and BRICS is a farce?
The members of the BRICS are either an outright enemy of America or are simply parasiting off America for as long as they can.
The best they that India could have done to prove herself to be our “ally” would have been to refuse being grouped with the BRICS.
Every country in the BRICS alliance is either a direct enemy of America or is parasiting off the others and America for as long as possible.
Either way, anyone who willingly allies themselves with Brazil (Marxist), Russia (Marxist), India (Socialist), China (Marxist), and South Africa (Socialist) for whatever reason, does so at the expense of America.
A true ally wouldn’t be a part of an association that is seeking the replacement of the USD as the world’s reserve currency, a move that would destroy our currency and our economy.
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