Indian Air Force (IAF) has come a long way since its inception over 91 years back. The fourth largest air force is not only driven by hard combat power and global reach, but has massive soft power. It fully supports India’s economic growth and global aspirations. IAF is the first mover in all Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) efforts within the country and the region and beyond.

AEROSPACE INDUSTRY AREA OF GLOBAL ACTION

The aerospace industry accounts for nearly 40 per cent of global military expenditure which is currently around $2.24 trillion. Indian military already is a major global aerospace market. India has a booming commercial aviation market too. Aviation technologies are always the leading cutting edge, and often game changing, and have deterrent capabilities. These require investments in research and development. Also, obsolescence sets in faster. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), other Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU) and private industry have seen rising technological and manufacturing capabilities. Aerial technologies have many civil offshoots.

India has clear advantage of higher skills and lower costs of production. The present government’s ‘Atamnirbharta’ push supports the ‘Make in India’. Time is ripe for mastering new technologies and boosting domestic defence production. Artificial intelligence (AI) and Information Technology will support the process. IAF fully supports “Atmanirbharta” in aerospace technologies and production. For India to sit on the global high table, it must master some of these. India must become self-sufficient in defence and aerospace. India must also take-on civil aircraft repairs and overhaul for itself and the region. IAF fully supports this important part of national building.

IAF SUPPORTS INDIAN MILITARY AVIATION PROJECTS

LCA ‘Tejas’ is the flagship defence production project of India. IAF has constantly backed the programme and taken ownership. It has already committed more than 400 LCA Mk1, Mk1A, and Mk2 variants. IAF has not only given operational and technical concessions to its original specifications but also accommodated delays in the project, even at the cost of its own operational capability going down.

IAF is closely interacting with DRDO and HAL on the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). IAF will require over 200 AMCA. The ALH helicopter has been a success because of great handholding by IAF. Today the armed variant ‘Rudra’ and Light Combat Helicopter ‘Prachand’ are already seeing action. The Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) variant is expected shortly. IAF is looking forward to the Indian Multi Role Helicopter (IMRH), of which the design has reportedly been frozen, to one day replace the Mi-17 class.

IAF has been directly involved in the Airbus C295W selection and manufacturing processes. Meanwhile the NAL-HAL Saras continues to be developed slowly, and IAF test crew have been doing the flight testing. IAF is closely involved in the DRDO’s Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) and Flight Refueller Aircraft (FRA) projects. IAF has a great stake in Indian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), and UCAV projects, and is directly coordinating private sector for its drone requirements.

Similarly, IAF has backed and is beneficiary of India’s radar, and missile projects. It is working with different laboratories and organisations to enhance range, precision, and capability of systems and weapons. Also, development of advanced avionics.

Some areas that need further push are artificial intelligence (AI) supported systems, Stealth technologies, hypersonic flight and weapons, Directed Energy Weapons (DEW), electronic warfare systems and capabilities, Information Warfare (IW), and cyber warfare capability. Ultimately India must have its own aero-engine. It must also have its own airliner. Clearly India needs to spend much more on R&D.

HAND-HOLDING PRIVATE INDUSTRY

Indian private industry is finally becoming significant in defence. The Indian conglomerate, Tata is making the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter cabins, aero structures for Lockheed C-130 Hercules, Boeing’s CH-47 Chinook helicopters, and for the Pilatus PC-12NG. They make wings for F-16s. Tatas are the sole global producer of fuselages for AH-64 Apache helicopter delivered by Boeing to its global customers. Tata group is working with GE to manufacture CFM International LEAP engine components in India.

IAF has just inducted the Airbus C295MW transport aircraft. 40 of these will be built by Tata Group in India. Tatas also produce and maintain Akash SAM launchers, command posts and other support vehicles for IAF. TASL is bidding to develop and build UAVs and kamikaze drones.

Dynamatic Technologies makes assemblies of vertical fins for Sukhoi 30 MKI fighters. They are also supplying aero-structures to Airbus for its A320 family of aircraft and the wide-body 330 aircraft. Hyderabad’s VEM technologies manufactures central-fuselage for LCA Tejas. Many Indian MSMEs and startups are in defence production, and their presence was visible in Aero India 2023.

Adani Elbit Advanced Systems India Limited is producing Hermes-900 UAVs in India. Many startups have entered drones and counter drone manufacturing. These include Newspace Research & Technologies, Paras Aerospace, Throttle Aerospace, Redwing Labs, Dhaksha Unmanned Systems, UrbanMatrix Technologies, Thanos Technologies, and Auto Micro UAS, among many others. IAF had launched the ‘Meher Baba’ competition for swarm drones, and has been organising large drone events to promote indigenisation. IAF is working closely with private sector.

IAF IN THE LEAD TO HARNESSING SPACE AND NEAR SPACE

Space is the ultimate vantage point and future for all action and capabilities, the real force multiplier. Space is the enabler for most ISR, communications, and navigation, and targeting capabilities on earth. Air and space domains have already begun to merge and need to be exploited together. For the success of any surface or sub-surface campaign, aerospace superiority would be the starting point. India needs to build and secure its assets in space. China has pulled significantly ahead in number of launches, satellites and constellations, space-station, and satellite navigation systems. India has all basic space capabilities. Only the numbers have to increase for better redundancy, and higher revisit for ISR. Also, India must quickly operationalise its satellite navigations system NavIC. IAF is best placed to harness space for its networked operations using the Air Force Net (AFNET) and Integrated Air (Aerospace) Command and Control System (IACCS).

IAF’S GLOBAL AIR REACH

Any significant global power must have the capability for “global vigilance and global reach”. IAF has to ensure the country has “freedom from attack and the freedom to attack”. India’s immediate area of regional influence demand ability to cover and dominate the entire Bay of Bengal up to and beyond the Malacca Strait. Have an operational reach till British Indian Ocean territories (Diego Garcia) in northern Indian Ocean. Similarly cover the entire Arabian Sea up to Gulf of Aden and Gulf of Oman. While air-refuelled fighters will undertake such missions, it is the Rapid Mobility Missions of transport fleet that are important for defence diplomacy.

On February 27, 2020, 76 Indians and 36 foreign nationals were evacuated from Wuhan (China). The aircraft had also carried medical supplies as symbol of goodwill to China. IAF’s C-17 Globemaster brought back 58 Indians from Iran on March 10, 2020. Two IAF C-17s landed in Turkey with supplies, and Indian Army medical personnel to set up medical facility during 2023 earthquake. The role of the IAF has been distinctive in all kinds of operations because of its efficiency to respond fast along with its inherent characteristics of range, mobility and flexibility. Two IAF C-130J aircraft were positioned in Jeddah to evacuate Indian nationals from Sudan. One of them did a daring night mission, landing on a semi-prepared strip, with no runway lights, using night vision goggles.

The successful evacuation of 1,11,711 Indian citizens from Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan in 1990 by operating 488 flights over a period of 59 days by Air India and IAF was a world record. Similar missions were carried out from Lebanon in 2006 (Operation Sukoon) and in Libya in 2011. ‘Operation Neer’ was conducted to help Maldives in September 2014 which suffered a major drinking water crisis. IAF deployed three C-17 and three IL-76 flights to airlift 374 tonnes of drinking water to Male in two days. IAF deployed three C-17 aircraft in ‘Operation Rahat’ when civil war broke out in Yemen in 2015, and ferried back Indian nationals from Djibouti. 2,096 were flown out of the warzone in 11 evacuation flights. During the 2015 Nepal earthquake, IAF and Indian Army made 2,223 sorties and rescued 11,200 people. A key element of being a ‘net security provider’ is the ability to launch HADR operations in the region. The world praised India for its “remarkable” response and described the country’s disaster management capabilities as sophisticated and advanced.

IAF AND WITHIN INDIA HADR MISSIONS

India is prone to landslides, floods, cyclones, and many other manmade disasters. IAF has always been the first mover and responder. During the recent landslides in Wayanad, Kerala, IAF moved Indian Army and NDRF teams and their equipment to save lives.

India has come a long way since the Bhopal gas leak disaster of 1984, 1999 Orissa Cyclone, 2001 Bhuj Earthquake, December 2004 Tsunami, and Sikkim earthquake of September 2011, both in capability and response. India’s handling of the devastating Uttarakhand flood and Category 5 super cyclone Phailin in Orissa in 2013 also won international praise. The fact that in the 2013 Uttarakhand floods the IAF evacuated 23,892 people, delivered 798 tonnes of relief material and flew 3,536 missions in 65 days at the cost of losing one helicopter and entire crew on-board drives home the successful capabilities of HADR developed and employed by service. In January 2013, IAF helicopters aided Power Grid Corporation of India repair high tension lines, at about 10,000 feet above sea level, in heavily snowbound Banihal area of Jammu and Kashmir. In August 2018, IAF used 24 choppers to rescue 1,000s from flood-ravaged Kerala, flying 288 sorties under ‘Operation Karuna’. IAF carried out many missions to support construction of the world’s highest rail bridge over Chenab in the Reasi district of the Jammu Division of Jammu and Kashmir.

IAF had deployed 42 transport aircraft for COVID relief tasks including 12 heavy lift and 30 medium lift aircraft. They were used to move personnel and bring in relief materials. They lifted huge empty Oxygen containers to industrial towns for filling and quick turnaround.

The disaster management is all about Readiness, Response, Reduction (Mitigation) and Recovery. IAF aircraft first help locate and assess the gravity through aerial survey, so that action can be directed. Aircraft with specialised surveillance cameras, helicopters with observers, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) with special day and night payloads are ideally suited for this.

IAF has its own emergency response teams co-located with major transport aircraft bases at Hindon, Palam, Bangalore, Guwahati and Chandigarh. It also has Rapid Aero Medical Teams (RAMT) positioned at vantage locations. All IAF bases have coordination with local Indian Army units and the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) battalions, all of which are manned by uniformed para-military personnel.

IAF’s helicopter fleet is constantly on the move, whether it is flood relief, supplying citizens in snow-bound cut-off areas in Himalayas, rescue stranded skiers, or dousing forest fires. The air operations are speedier, allow flexibility, and are more scientifically executed.

INDIAN ARMY AERIAL SUPPLY CHAIN

IAF provides air logistics support to Indian Army in the Himalayas airlifting weapon platforms, supplies and personnel, through the year. IAF airlifts close to 30,000 tonnes of stores for Indian Army annually.

DEFENCE DIPLOMACY

The military-to-military contacts are at various levels, including senior level visit exchanges, arms sales and purchases, military equipment training, joint military exercises, training staff courses, and exchange of strategic and tactical appreciation literature. Defence wings in the embassies play a huge role in facilitating Defence Diplomacy.

Also, India’s arms assistance to some of the neighbours like Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Maldives to build their military capability by donating and transferring equipment, including aircraft, helicopter, radars, naval vessels, is part of the military diplomacy and increasing dependency.

Training foreign military personnel at Indian military academies and training institutions helps build military-to-military links, and often long-term beneficial friendships. Defence diplomacy is not exclusive, and both the foreign and defence policies should work in tandem. IAF’s Exercise “Tarang Shakti” will be a great occasion to further defence diplomacy.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND SECURITY

Climate Change is already a defining challenge for security. A ‘Threat Multiplier’ that can aggravate conflict and geopolitical competition. Adverse climate also makes it harder for military to do its job. If India must safeguard security of 1.4 billion people, it has to look at climate change seriously, and mitigate its affects by adapting to it. Without affecting military capabilities, armed forces will have to become part of the global transition and control own greenhouse emissions. The armed forces are known for managing ecological and environmental issues were well, but climate change is quite different.

High temperatures affect load carriage for IAF aircraft, and also impacts sensitive avionics. Frequent thunderstorms could mean mission re-routing more often and affect operations and fuel consumption. IAF is conscious of both CO₂ emissions and waste management at airbases. Climate change is being taught in all IAF training institutions. Indian military prides itself in ecologically and environmentally responsible operations. Most military stations are setting up solar power generation. They are managing waste through scientific ecofriendly means. Indian military is transitioning to non-fossil fuel technology, and looking closely at energy use and savings. Indian Air Force (IAF) has already begun using bio-fuels.

CONCLUSION

IAF makes huge contribution to nation building in many other ways. During elections, IAF moves large number of personnel and materials. IAF carries out dare-devil air shows with its ‘Surya Kiran’, ‘Sarang’, and ‘Akash Ganga’ air display teams to motivate the youth and to lift the morale of Indian public, across the country, through the year. IAF carries out interactions with schools and colleges on aviation, and strategy to increase awareness. IAF organises the Aero India show on behalf of the MoD. Many seminars and interactions are organised with the industry to promote Atmanirbharta.

IAF is firm on its commitment of “People First Mission Always” achieved through systematic approach to build up its strategic, tactical and nation building capabilities.