IAF fighter jet fleet in need of immediate attention

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 28

With the MiG-27 fleet having been phased out of the Indian Air Force (IAF), reducing the fighting fleet further, the Ministry of Defence will now push for faster production of Tejas fighter jets and look for other options.

As of yesterday, the IAF was having 31 squadrons (16-18 planes in each) as against the mandated 42 for simultaneous two-front war with Pakistan and China. Off these are some half a dozen MiG 21 squadrons that are also being phased out gradually. The engine upgrade of the Jaguar jets has been shelved and the fleet of 100-odd jets will start getting phased out from 2025 onwards.

Another squadron of the Sukhoi 30 MKI is being raised at Thanjavur early next year.

The first lot of Rafale jets from France will start arriving early next year. A total of 36 are on order. Separately, a global tender is out in the open, asking foreign companies to come and make 114 jets in India. It is slowly inching forward.

The real issue is with the pace of the domestic production of fighter jets and the IAF has suggested to the government that it needed a speedier “make in India” by public sector giant Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Over the next 16-18 years, the IAF would require more than 300 jets made by the HAL. At the present pace of 11-12 planes per annum, the HAL would take 25-26 years to make various versions of Tejas, Tejas Mark II (called medium-weight fighter) and also the advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA), a fifth generation state-of-the-art plane. All three planes are part of the projected 300 jets.

The IAF wanted the HAL to ramp up to make 16 planes per annum and outsource work, so that the speed could be increased to 20 planes. The HAL reports to the Department of Defence Production in the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The HAL is listed to make 40 Tejas Mark1 jets. The order for the remaining 83 for the the Tejas Mark 1A, which will come with 43 improvements, needs to be placed immediately.

The IAF has told the MoD that it would need 170 (10 squadrons) Tejas Mark II (known as MWF) planes, the test flight of which is slated for 2022.

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