VIEWS:

As compared with the fleet of transport aircraft and rotary-wing platforms currently with the IAF, the state of the combat fleet has been and continues to be a cause of serious concern for the service especially on account of the ongoing face-off in Ladakh between the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army of China and the possibility of a two-front war. With the retirement of the fleets of the obsolete MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-27 aircraft and with no replacements available so far, the strength of the combat fleet of the IAF has progressively reduced from 39.5 squadrons to 30 squadrons. In the meantime, the government has authorised enhancement of the strength of the combat fleet to 42 squadrons, increasing the deficiency to 12 squadrons or 216 aircraft as against an authorised strength of 756 aircraft. Efforts by the IAF over the last 18 years to import modern combat aircraft have not been successful. There is therefore the need for the Indian aerospace industry to develop the capability to produce modern combat aircraft indigenously to meet with the requirements of the IAF.

The experience with the development of the indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas has not been very inspiring. It took the Indian aerospace industry in the public sector 32 years since the initiation of the project in 1983, to hand over the first aircraft designated as the LCA the Mk I. As the performance of this indigenous platform fell quite short of the expectations of the IAF, its acquisition was limited to 40 aircraft. The Indian aerospace industry is now working on the upgraded version, the LCA Mk IA, which hopefully would have corrected the numerous deficiencies observed by the IAF. The first LCA Mk IA is expected to fly in three years; but the schedule for delivery of the 83 aircraft ordered, cannot be predicted with any degree of certainty and could well take several years. The Indian aerospace industry has plans to develop the LCA Mk II as well which is scheduled to undertake its maiden flight in 2023. However, despite the optimistic timelines for the maiden flight, the schedule for delivery to the IAF in the numbers required, continues to remain uncertain and hence cannot be relied upon to arrest the growing deficiency in the combat fleet.

In 2002, the IAF had initiated a process to acquire 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft to equip seven squadrons, to replace the fleet of MiG-21 aircraft inducted in the 1960s. From among the contenders in the race, the Rafale from Dassault of France was identified as the preferred platform. As per the tender, 108 of the 126 aircraft were to be manufactured in India, a provision that would have provided a boost to the Indian aerospace industry. Unfortunately, efforts of the IAF to procure 126 modern combat platforms to retain its operational edge, failed and the case was closed in 2015. This was not only a serious blow to the efforts by the IAF to upgrade its combat fleet, the Indian aerospace industry was deprived of an opportunity to develop indigenous capability to manufacture modern combat aircraft.

As an emergency measure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally negotiated an inter-governmental agreement with France for direct purchase of 36 Rafale jets. The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, 2020 and all 36 are to be delivered by 2023. The IAF will also receive 21 MiG-29 and 12 Su-30 aircraft from Russia which will add two squadrons to the IAF combat fleet; but regrettably, will not contribute to the growth of indigenous capability of the Indian aerospace industry.

From the experience of the IAF over the last two decades in its endeavour to upgrade and modernise its combat fleet, it ought to be clear that dependence on foreign sources for acquisition of modern combat aircraft will no longer be a convenient option. Besides, the nation’s aspirations to grow in every sector and finally emerge as a global power, can only be made possible through self reliance in every field, most of all in the domain of defence manufacturing. This is the essence of the philosophy of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ newly launched by Prime Minister Modi. However, experience of the Indian aerospace industry so far in its effort at manufacturing combat aircraft shows that indigenisation is not going to be an easy task and self reliance in this sector is likely to remain a distant dream unless major overhaul and restructuring of the Indian aerospace industry in the public sector is undertaken by the government as also the private sector is supported by the government to achieve unfettered growth.