![]() The IAF has become a critical component not only to fight a war but also as deterrence. In contrast, even after several decades India's efforts are still far from fruition. ![]() Even so, all truly great and medium military powers ranging from the US, Russia and China to France and Israel have attained a high degree of indigenous military capability, especially in core and high-end technologies. No country can afford to be cent-percent self-reliant, especially in today's world of globalisation. It also drives home the fact that both building (and re-building) a technology and capital intensive air force fleet is hugely expensive and involves considerable gestation time. The IAF's hope to attain its sanctioned strength of 42 fighter squadrons is well over a decade away indicating how much the air force has slid numerically. A better version (Mark-1A and Mark-II) of the Tejas is still under development and it will be some time before these are inducted. The Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), under development since 1983, has been inducted without a final operational clearance and with 53 waivers and concessions that has severely curtailed its operational capability. Besides, four of the seven Dhruv helicopters sold to Ecuador have crashed thus adversely affecting its brand image. The Dhruv advance light helicopter (ALH) has a French engine and a dismal record of accidents. The country's deficiency in self-reliance remains a serious matter of concern for a country that aspires for great power status. The story is similar in the case of the IAF's fixed wing aircraft and helicopter fleet.Įfforts at self-reliance have been agonisingly slow and incomplete. The French Rafale, when inducted by 2023, will be yet another addition of an aircraft type in the IAF's inventory for which new infrastructure will be created. The IAF's fighter fleet comprises fighter aircraft from three different countries - Russia, France and the UK a transport fleet from the United States, UK, Brazil, Germany and the former Soviet states of Ukraine and Russia and helicopters from Russia and France with the US soon expected to provide the Chinook heavy lift and Apache attack helicopters.Īpart from sourcing its fighter fleet from three different countries, the IAF flies seven different types of fighter aircraft thus creating major infrastructure and maintenance issues. The current state of the IAF is no better with the Russian-origin Sukhoi-30 squadrons functioning at less than 55 per cent efficiency with almost half of the present fleet unserviceable. ![]() At the current rate, the squadron strength is expected to touch a low of 25 by 2022. The IAF's fighter fleet is dangerously depleting - down to 33 squadrons from the sanctioned 42. ![]() ![]() The IAF, currently the world's fourth largest, is a completely import-dependent armed force for virtually every weapon platform and weapon system. The IAF's transport fleet's continuous silent role of air maintaining troops in extreme and remote corners of the country, whether the high-altitude Ladakh region or the hilly north eastern states bordering China and Myanmar, is a feat that will take several volumes to document. Particularly noteworthy have been its performance and role in the 1971 India-Pakistan war when it achieved complete aerial domination of former East Pakistan's airspace and the 1999 high-altitude Kargil war with Pakistan which witnessed incredible innovations. The IAF has performed with aplomb in all military operations in India's post-Independence history. Since then the IAF has come a long way in both size and technology considering the phenomenal advances since then in aviation technology and support elements. Every year the Indian Air Force (IAF) proudly observes its anniversary on October 8, the day when in 1932 the IAF's predecessor, the auxiliary air force of the Royal Air Force of the British Empire, was raised on a modest note with four vintage Wapiti biplanes (then jocularly pronounced as 'what-a-pity'). ![]()
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