The DPP has helped streamline the defence procurement process and reduced the procurement timelines considerably, says the Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne. In the second instalment of the interview with Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia, Editor, SP’s Aviation, the Air Chief also detailed the IAF’s proactive approach towards improving cyber security.

SP’s Aviation (SP’s): What are your views on the indigenous medium combat aircraft (MCA) programme? How does it fit in the melee of ongoing medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) and fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) programmes?

Chief of the Air Staff (CAS): The Government of India sanction was accorded in October 2010 to carry out a project feasibility study for the design and development of the advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA). Based on qualitative requirements (QRs) given by the IAF, this project is currently at the feasibility study stage. The critical design drivers, technology requirements and architectural options for aircraft systems and engines are being conceptualised and finalised.

The AMCA is being developed as a multi-role, mediumweight, twin-engine and fifth generation fighter. Exploiting the concept of stealth, super cruise, super manoeuvrability, thrust-vectoring, advanced avionics and sensors, this aircraft will be capable of performing a multitude of air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. At this point of time, it is still at the drawing board stage.

SP’s: What are your views on the Naresh Chandra Committee’s recommendation of creating a new post of Permanent Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC)?

CAS: The Naresh Chandra Task Force proposal to create the appointment of (Permanent) Chairman COSC has been concurred by Air HQ. As per the recommendations, the Chairman COSC would be a permanent four-star rank with a fixed tenure of two years who will be the single-point contact between the government and the three services on matters of joint policy, training and joint issues. He would thus be the fourth four-star officer who would also be responsible for all the Joint Tri-Service Commands (ANC and SFC for the present and special operations, aerospace and cyber commands for the future). The Service Chiefs will continue to exercise operational control over their respective service and have direct access to the government on service specific issues. This set up will allow Headquaters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) under Chairman COSC to function as an effective advisory nodal agency to the government. For total integration of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Services HQ, certain posts have been identified in MoD and at Air HQ where service and civilian officers can be cross posted, respectively. A full switch over to CDS concept as envisioned earlier would only be possible after full integration of MoD and Services HQ.

SP’s: You have been one of the greatest proponents of integrating the aerospace industry in India with the private sector. What in your opinion is being done to realise the stated objective and what more needs to be done?

CAS: The Defence Production Policy espouses the need of having a strong indigenous defence industry base including the private sector. While initiating the proposals for any new acquisitions, it is ensured that the inherent capability of the Indian defence industry is taken into account before looking outside at the external market. The provisions of transfer of technology (ToT) and offsets as enshrined in the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) also go a long way in ensuring that the indigenous industry (both public as well as private) gets the required fillip to compete with the international players, thereby leading to self-reliance. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has accorded the approval for the 56 Avro replacement scheme on June 23, 2012. It is expected that the request for proposal (RFP) to prospective global vendors will be issued shortly. The OEM will be required to choose an Indian Production Agency (IPA) from the private sector as its partner. For the first time, HAL or any other defence PSU has been intentionally kept out of this project in order to provide the private industry an opportunity to develop its latent talent. I am hopeful that the Indian private industry will grab this opportunity with both hands. This project is being undertaken for the first time and will surely provide the much needed boost to our private sector. The initial batch of aircraft is planned to be bought in a flyaway condition from the OEM and the IPA would thereafter produce the balance aircraft.

SPG: The number of international air exercises have come down. Is it deliberate or is it a temporary lull?

CAS: Year 2011-12 has been planned as the year of consolidation in IAF wherein we planned to assimilate lessons from the previous exercises as also consolidate our training and air assets availability in view of the forthcoming major international exercises with friendly foreign air forces. The IAF will be participating in Ex-Red Flag in July 2013 with United States Air Force (USAF) in Nellis, USA, hosting the French Air Force for Ex-Garuda in India during first half of 2014 and then participate in Ex-Indradhanush with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in UK during latter part of 2014. Notwithstanding these plans, we have been regularly sending air warriors abroad as observers for major exercises the world over and have looked at various doctrinal, planning and employment lessons which emerge from the interactions.

SP’s: What is the latest on setting up a Space Command even if it was to be tri-service in nature, or, has it been put on the back-burner once again?

CAS: Our stand on the issue continues to be the same. We are focused more on the development, acquisition and integration of all the space assets in order to obtain operational ‘aerospace capabilities’. Consequently, we are progressing well in acquiring space capabilities as part of our overall aerospace transformation plan. The primary issue is integration and operationalisation of space capabilities for overall force enhancement and organisational issues; infrastructure, etc are secondary issues. Once the operational capabilities are in place, the organisational issues would automatically fall into place. With regards to your second question, the operational interests of the IAF are a subset of the overall security interests of the nation and they would certainly be safeguarded at all stages.

SP’s: What in your opinion should be done to safeguard the country from onslaughts like ‘cyber jihad’?

CAS: Cyber warfare has emerged as the fifth dimension of warfare in addition to the dimensions of land, sea, air and space. This medium can be exploited by adversaries for propaganda as in the case of latest “cyber jihad”. Cyber security has been given highest priority at national level by the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and effective measures to counter any exploitation of cyber space by our adversaries have been planned. The IAF follows a proactive approach towards improving cyber security by continuous awareness, auditing of our information networks and strengthening the cyber security grid for critical information infrastructure of IAF. A roadmap for strengthening of cyber security in IAF in consultation with CERT-India, NTRO and NSCS has been charted out for implementation. Matters pertaining to setting up of cyber command are also being deliberated by NSCS, MoD and by the three services as a Joint Functional Command.

SP’s: The inking of the Pilatus deal must have come as a sigh of relief for the IAF. How is the IAF gearing itself to take on the entire gamut of flying training?

CAS: Grounding of HPT-32 aircraft had imposed a severe strain on ab initio training increasing the demands on the Kiran fleet, which is already approaching the end of its service life. Currently, the Kiran fleet is being used both for Stage-1 as well as for the already existing Stage-2 training. This certainly is not an optimal situation that can be sustained for long although we have incorporated many organisational changes to address this issue. With the induction of PC-7 Mk II, the basic flying training will be shifted onto this aircraft, thus off-loading the pressure on Kiran Mk I/IA. Delivery of the aircraft is likely to start in February next year and flying training will commence from July 2013 onwards. The infrastructure development to support the induction of the aircraft is currently under progress.

With the acquisition of versatile combat platforms in the IAF, there would be a corresponding increase in the requirement of additional aircrew. To overcome this shortfall, a longterm induction plan up to the year 2030 has been chalked out which envisages an average strength of 750 trainees per six months at Air Force Academy at any given time, against the existing capacity of 480. This increased capacity to train along with the induction of the new basic trainer aircraft will permit us a proportionate increase in air crew training as well. The new training curriculum will therefore address our future aircrew requirements adequately.

SP’s: Could you give an update on the IAF’s endeavours to improve its ground-based air defence capabilities?

CAS: Our ground-based air defence systems constitute a critical component of our overall operational plans. The existing systems i.e. Pechora, OSA-AK and Igla have admirably served their intended purpose and a replacement for these systems is already under way. The IAF has envisaged and initiated actions for their replacements. The Akash missile system is expected to be operational by the end of the current financial year and deliveries in respect of Spyder LLQRM system are likely to commence from the next year. Over a period of time, the number of assets warranting AD protection has also increased. A long-term perspective plan has been put in place to induct fresh SAGW systems to address the issue of increasing voids in AD capabilities. With the induction of replacement systems as well as the fresh accretions we would be able to bridge the gap between existing and desired AD capabilities.

The stated policy of the GoI has been to support indigenisation and become fully self-reliant in production of SAGW systems. For this, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Defence Research Development Laboratory (DRDL) and defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) are required to absorb technology to the maximum extent possible. Accordingly, the MoD has entered into a contract with a number of foreign companies for collaborative design, development and production of modern systems. The work share of Indian companies would therefore have to be progressively increased, to facilitate our technical experts to successfully produce the next generation of missiles indigenously. The new SAGW systems i.e. MR-SAM and SR-SAM, proposed to be acquired as fresh accretions as well as replacement of legacy systems, have accordingly been envisaged to be procured following this route.

SP’s: Does the IAF have any plans to acquire unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capability?

CAS: The UCAV technology is still under development across the globe and is yet to mature completely in our part of the world. The successful operational employment of these platforms would have to be studied in detail. We have an indigenous programme of medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV Rustom III which is under development by DRDO. Only after the successful demonstration of the indigenous development enhancement of the capability towards armed UAV/UCAV would be further explored. Technological advancements in the unmanned domain notwithstanding, I am of the view that manned combat aircraft will continue to play a pivotal role in our operational context for a long time.

SP’s: What is your view on the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP)?

CAS: The DPP has helped to streamline the defence procurement process and reduced the procurement timelines considerably. This is evident from the number of contracts signed in the last five years. The revised offset guidelines now permit a greater flexibility for discharge of offset obligations. This will allow offset contracts to progress in a more effective manner. The MMRCA procurement, however, is being progressed under DPP 2006 under which transfer of technology is not eligible towards discharge of offset obligations.

SP’s: Are any thoughts being given in terms of revising the IAF’s force levels to cater to a possible collusive threat from its western and northern neighbours?

CAS: The long-term integrated perspective plan (LTIPP) of the defence services has been approved by the Government of India. This is a holistic perspective plan which caters to our defence procurements over three plan periods. IAF’s force structuring, future upgrades and acquisitions are all progressing on track as per our plan. We are enhancing our own capability to meet our security requirements both for one-front and a two-front contingency. Our endeavour is to retain the ‘capability edge’ over our likely adversaries and our modernisation plans are in sync with this thought process. IAF’s focus is therefore rightly on its capability development and is not in competition with any other country.

SP’s: Has the IAF’s offer of permanent commission to its women officers been extended to the Flying Branch?

CAS: IAF is the only service which has opened up all branches for induction of women as SSC officers except for the fighter stream of Flying Branch. The strength of the women officers in the IAF is the highest amongst the three services. Till date, 144 SSC women officers of Technical and Non-Technical branches have been granted permanent commission (PC) and 245 more would be considered for grant of PC in the near future. Currently, the women officers of all the three services are not being deployed on active duty close to the border wherein they are likely to be exposed to direct line of fire of the enemy/engaged in operations across the border. AVSC-II had recommended a larger number of officers in SSC cadre and had limited the number in PC cadre in all three services, primarily to reduce the stagnation at higher ranks and to improve career prospects. Recommendations of AVSC are being implemented and the IAF has decided to have a limited number of PC officers and large number of SSC officers. The offer of PC therefore, has not been extended to SSC women officers of the Flying Branch.

SP’s: You had propagated “People First Mission Always” as the guiding dictum for the service. Do you think it has had the desired effect?

CAS: The IAF vision statement “People First Mission Always” underscores the fact that the man/woman behind the machine is the “pivot factor” that will eventually decide the outcome of any operational endeavour. Renewed emphasis on capability development of the air warrior stems from our ongoing strategic transformation wherein it is absolutely essential that our technology leap is ably exploited by a set of motivated professionals who will provide the decisive edge in any operational situation. To achieve the desired levels of capability, a gamut of processes is required to be benchmarked, spanning the functions of recruitment, training, concept development and administrative support, to name a few.

Our vision statement rightly shifts the focus on the prime enablers of IAF’s mission. While focusing on our personnel, the aim is not only welfare but more importantly addressing the mentoring, nurturing and personal growth issues of an IAF air warrior in its entirety. Further initiatives in this regard are constantly being evolved, and over a period of time are expected to lead us to more effective ways of managing the most precious of all resources “the man and woman behind the machine”. There is a strong leadership dimension to our vision statement and I am happy to see this recognition and acknowledgment by our officers and men. We have ensured that this does not remain as a statement only but is converted into actionable programmes at all levels. The recent formulation of a monthly “cohesion day” and the activities involved in bonding our people has been a tremendous success. I only wish we had introduced some of these programmes 30 years ago. As you know, the IAF is a dynamic organisation which is constantly evolving and I see this as part of a never-ending process designed to produce the best quality leaders for the future.