For long, the Indian Air Force (IAF) had been looking at a total of 42 fighter aircraft squadrons as a basic requirement to fight a two-front war. But increasingly, it is being felt in the security establishment that may be the number is just too short.
“We factored in the 42 fighter squadron requirement when our military forces were Pakistan-centric. Now our focus has shifted. Therefore, the threshold of 42 fighter squadrons may need a revision. It is already been talked about at the appropriate levels,” a senior IAF official told THE WEEK on condition of anonymity.
The official was alluding to the change in focus of the Indian military from Pakistan to China.
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But the bigger challenge is that of depleting fighter aircraft squadrons. The IAF’s fighter fleet now stands at 31, or about 200 aircraft short of the 42 squadron benchmark, with low production of the indigenous Tejas LCA and long gestation period for new procurement from aboard being the main problems.
The official was speaking on Friday on the sidelines of the IAF annual press conference ahead of the IAF Day celebrations on October 8.
During an interaction, the IAF chief Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh spoke about the difference in capability of the IAF and the China’s People Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF): “We have exposure much better than them. Because we do come to know through our sources how they train, how many different air forces they interact with and how many do we interact with.”
“As far as our people behind the machine are concerned, we are way ahead of them. As far as technology is concerned, we may be not so good as of now. We have lagged. We were better than them in technology also some time back. But have lagged in that and we need to catch up with it.”
On the average, the IAF takes part in 4-6 air exercises with foreign countries on foreign soil.
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On the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the IAF chief said China is rapidly building infrastructure, especially in the Ladakh sector, and India is also trying to match it while adding that India has the “capability to strike our enemies in foreign lands and we showed it in the Balakot air strikes.”
The Chief of Air Staff also said the IAF is looking at having the entire inventory produced in India by 2047 while pointing out that it is important to have indigenous weapons systems to deal with any future security challenges.
