NEWS:
Cutting down competition to F-16 by Lockheed Martin and Gripen by Saab, Minister of Defence Manohar Parrikar said India will select one more single-engine aircraft other than Tejas for manufacture under ‘Make in India’ programme. Apart from 36 Rafale jets, the Indian Air Force (IAF) needs to induct 200 fighter jets in the medium-weight category. The Defence Minister said that as and when India decides to go for a twin-engine fighter, the government will also consider the Rafale. But as of now there are no plans to procure any additional aircraft. Parrikar added that once the company is selected to supply the single engine fighter, there will be a government-to-government contract to ensure that the other government stands guarantee in terms of technology transfer and other issues committed by the OEM.

VIEWS:
In the beginning of the last decade, the IAF was confronted with a serious dilemma. On the one hand, a large part of its fleet of combat aircraft that consisted of the MiG-21 whose procurement from the Soviet Union had commenced in the early 1960s was about to be overtaken by obsolescence. On the other, there was no certainty in the availability of its replacement by way of the longawaited light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas designed and developed by the Bengaluru-based Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and manufactured by the Indian Aerospace major the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). With no option available, in 2002, the IAF initiated a case for the procurement of 126 multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) in the 15- to 20-tonne weight category to replace the six squadrons of MiG-21 Type 77 that were deployed primarily for air defence. The Staff Qualitative Requirements (SQRs) were subsequently revised to induct combat aircraft in the mediumweight category, i.e. 25 tonnes and the platform was redesignated as medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA). After five years of effort by Air Headquarters, the request for proposal (RFP) was finally issued in August 2007. After an elaborate process of evaluation, the twin-engine Rafale from Dassault Aviation of France from amongst six contenders was declared by the IAF as the preferred platform. Unfortunately, eight years after the RFP was issued, the tender for the MMRCA was cancelled on account of some problems that proved to be insurmountable.

Nearly two years have elapsed since the cancellation of the tender for MMRCA and there has been only partial relief for the IAF by way of an inter-governmental agreement for Dassault to supply 36 Rafale jets. However, this may take another five years or more to fructify. Meanwhile, the number of squadrons in the fighter fleet of the IAF has come down from the authorised level of 39.5 to 33. In terms of inventory holding, the number of aircraft in the combat fleet has reduced from 790 to 660, a deficiency of 130 platforms. However, when viewed against the newly authorised strength of 42 squadrons, the deficiency stands at 180 aircraft. By the end of this decade or at the most by early next decade, the IAF will phase out all the MiG-21 and MiG-27 aircraft on account of which the strength of combat squadrons will dwindle further to 25 which is equivalent of 500 aircraft. The cumulative deficiency will thus go up to 340 aircraft. As this situation will have a crippling effect on the IAF which in the evolving geopolitical and geostrategic environment is expected to be gearing up for a two-front war.

Although the IAF has been able to raise the first squadron of the Tejas Mk I albeit with only two aircraft, this is a lightweight aircraft and does not in terms of quality address the shortage of combat aircraft the IAF will face in the future. At this point in time, what the IAF needs urgently is aound 200 aircraft in the medium-weight category. Even if the rate of production of the Tejas is ramped up by HAL to 16 aircraft per year, it will take over a decade for the Indian aerospace industry to alleviate the problem of the IAF only partially. There is undoubtedly an urgent need for the government to take speedy and decisive action to retrieve the combat fleet of the IAF from the deplorable morass it is descending into.

The move by the government to explore options with aerospace majors from abroad to establish production line in India to build under the ‘Make in India’ programme, a proven single engine combat platform to meet with the pressing requirements of the IAF, appears to be perhaps the only practical and viable option available under the prevailing circumstances. However, there are some imponderables and possible impediments that might impinge on the efforts by the government to restore the combat potential of the IAF to a respectable level. Reluctance by the original equipment manufactures (OEM) to a full transfer of technology as mandated by the ‘Make in India’ programme and control by them over production and sale abroad of the finished product could militate against the interests of the nation. Besides, in the precarious state the IAF is in, at this point in time, speed of execution of the project to make available the selected combat platform to the IAF in shortest possible time would be of utmost importance. The government therefore would have to ensure that the process does not get bogged down in the laborious and labyrinthine bureaucratic procedures, a phenomenon that has been an impediment in the acquisition of urgently needed military hardware.