It is of paramount importance to augment IAF’s entire range of capabilities – from rocketry to combat and transport aircraft, to UAVs and heliborne operations, besides ushering in an era of vigorous R&D with active private sector participation

As it celebrat es its 79th anniversary, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has just one wish to make before blowing out the candles on the birthday cake: modernise. Indeed, modernisation is the mantra for any air force in the world to develop full spectrum capabilities, and the IAF is no exception.

The IAF has come a long way since 1932 when it began with half a dozen officers and a couple of Wapiti aircraft. Today, the men and women in blue of the world’s fourth largest air force can proudly look back on those years, having bravely faced challenges not only from the enemy but of operating over some of the most hostile terrain in the world. Along with the heroics, there were the heartbreaks, too. The appalling series of crashes of its frontline fighters in recent years must be one of the worst chapters in IAF history. This would have been a serious blow for any air force, but the IAF has shown steely resolve in breaking out of the thunderclouds into bright sunshine. For things are looking up now, and the IAF is finally on the home stretch to acquiring the long-awaited medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA)—a contract that will probably be sealed before the year is out.

The IAF of tomorrow should be ready to scramble to guard India’s enhanced strategic and security interests that extend from the Straits of Hormuz to the Straits of Malacca, and includes the Central Asian Region. For this, the importance of long-range precision strike, strategic surveillance, and other revolution in military affairs (RMA) technologies in maintaining air superiority cannot be overstated. So it is of paramount importance to augment the Air Force’s entire range of capabilities—from rocketry to combat and transport aircraft, to UAVs and heliborne operations, besides ushering in an era of vigorous research and development (R&D) with active private sector participation. No wonder the acquisition of force multipliers like airborne warning and control system (AWACS), midair refuelling aircraft, and advanced radars—all crucial elements in force potency—top the IAF’s shopping list.

In this issue, we also look at the emerging unique partnerships between industry and air force that are key to energising the Indian aerospace sector. It is good to see New Delhi shaking hands with major international aerospace players like Honeywell over deals that augur well for India’s civil aviation scene, which is rapidly ascending to a 20 per cent growth level. A key element that fuels this remarkable progress is corporate aviation. This is a sector that is poised for phenomenal growth, but it needs more than a little help from the industry, which should be freed from the yoke of stifling tax regimes and regulations. We take a closer look at all this and analyse trends in regional aviation in India that is witnessing the fastest air traffic growth—of nearly 10 per cent expected to be sustained over the next 20 years. That said, however, little can happen in the air without things changing on the ground.

The need of the hour is for the government to do more to set up a modern aerospace industry and R&D establishment. Combined with the significant strides India has already made in the regime of space technology, this will enable the country to take bolder steps not just in aerospace, but in defence research and development. That, perhaps, would be the best way to salute the IAF, which should ideally aim for a 50 combat-squadron force by, say, 2032, when it could happily put 100 candles on its birthday cake.

Jai Hind!