Rafale home, mega boost for air power

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 29

Around 3 pm when the first lot of Rafale fighter jets touched down at the Indian Air Force base, Ambala, on Wednesday, it marked an incremental increase in the arc of operations and capability to strike.

The five jets, part of the 36 ordered from Dassault Aviation of France, arrived to a rousing welcome. They are the first step to building up the IAF strength to 42 fighter jet squadrons (16-18 jets in each). The IAF currently has 31 squadrons, including five with MiG-21s, which should have been ideally decommissioned by now.

The Indian forces assess a need for 42 squadrons (some 18 planes in each) to tackle a two-front war with Pakistan and China simultaneously. The remaining 31 Rafales will be delivered progressively till May 2023 or over the next 34 months. Also, 20 LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) Tejas will be inducted over the next two years, which will be added to the existing fleet of 20 Tejas fighters.

Besides the Rafales and Tejas, the IAF will be looking for 230 other jets to make good the shortfall.

As an immediate measure, India has gone back to its long-standing military ally Russia to order an additional 33 fighter jets. These will include 21 MiG 29, adding to the existing fleet of 59 jets. The purchase and the upgrade of the existing fleet will cost Rs 7,418 crore ($1billion approx). In addition, New Delhi is buying 12 Sukhoi 30 MKI. India has a sanction from Russia for licensed production of 272 such jets. The additional 12 fighters will meet the immediate shortages and make up for those that have crashed over the past decade.

Will protect territorial integrity

The new capability must be worrying those who want to threaten our territorial integrity. —Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister

A part of the 230-jet requirement will be met by the 83 Tejas Mark1A fighters, which will come with 43 improvements over the existing Tejas. The order is expected to be placed by the end of the year, sources said.

The IAF has expressed an interest to procure another 114 fighter jets under the “strategic partnership” model. In the race for this tender are the Lockheed Martin’s F-21, Boeing’s F/A-18IN, Eurofighter Typhoon, French Dassault’s Rafale, Swedish Saab’s Gripen and Russian MiG-35 and Sukhoi 35. But not much has moved on the procurement front.

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