Rahul Bedi 
Chandigarh: In yet another replay of a hackneyed script, the Union government has constituted a committee under defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh to suggest means to augment the Indian Air Force (IAF)’s waning operational capabilities, via a combination of platform imports and indigenously sourced assets.
Quoting unnamed sources, the Times of India revealed on Monday that this committee, comprising IAF deputy chief of staff Air Marshal Tejinder Singh, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) head Samir Kamat and secretary of defence production Sanjeev Kumar, has been tasked with submitting its recommendations by end-January 2025.
Its remit: to once more determine guidelines to swiftly bolster the IAF’s declining combat fleet, down to around 30 of 42 sanctioned fighter squadrons, to potentially counter the collusive threat from nuclear and military allies Pakistan and China, alongside boosting force multipliers like re-fuellers and airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platforms, amongst others resources.
“It is hard to comprehend the need for constituting such a committee, given that the problems and shortcomings are well-known, as are the solutions and procedures,” said Amit Cowshish, former Ministry of Defence (MoD) acquisitions advisor.
The singular hindrance, he stressed, has always been one of decision making, and that it was puzzling as to how this newly instituted committee was going to solve this inadequacy that focusses on continually dribbling the ball and not hitting it into the goal, he added, using a sporting analogy to explain matters.
A cross-section of senior IAF veterans concurred.
The MoD was not available for comment.
Air Marshal V.K. ‘Jimmy’ Bhatia declared that the government and the MoD had been here countless times before, but with the same dismal outcome: nothing.
“It’s not as if the worrisome situation the IAF faces with regard to the decline in its combat squadrons and related platforms has not been reiterated to successive administrations, along with solutions to rectify it,” declared the highly decorated fighter pilot.
However, he hoped sceptically that this committee would formulate some ‘ground-breaking’ suggestions to enforce decision making, but was greatly mystified over what these could possibly be.
Other retired IAF officers too maintained that, for over three decades, consecutive air chief marshals had warned each government of the critical drawdown in IAF fighter squadrons, due to the steady ‘number-plating’ or retirement of Soviet-era legacy platforms like MiG-21s, MiG-23s and MiG-27s.
“The MoD is more than well versed with the IAF’s prevailing dismal level of equipment shortages, but chooses to ignore it,” said a two-star veteran, declining to be named as he was fearful of repercussions from the BJP government.
But, he said, there had been little or no effort at redressal, as other than a ‘paralysis’ in decision making, the entire force-modernisation process was jeopardised by complex MoD procurement procedures and shrinking budgets. Domestic technological and engineering challenges in designing and building aircraft only furthered the IAF’s present troublesome predicament.
Retirement of two of IAF’s 30 fighter squadrons long overdue; multi-role fighter aircraft needed ‘as of yesterday’
Currently, the IAF’s 30-strong fighter squadrons, comprising some 630 platforms, include two MiG-21 ‘Bison’ squadrons, based in Rajasthan, both of which are due for retirement in the New Year.
Their superannuation would leave the IAF with just 28 combat squadrons, as delivery by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) of 180 variants – or some eight or nine squadrons – of the indigenously developed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft 1A, ordered separately in early 2021 and in April 2024, were facing interminable delays following interruptions in the supply of their General Electric GE-F404 turbofan power packs from the US.
Regardless, the MiG-21’s retirement far exceeded the Soviet-era fighters’ phasing-out deadline of 2019, announced by then Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne in April 2013.
“At the time the IAF had no alternative but to extend the total technical life of fighters like MiG-21s and MiG-27s, as there simply were no immediate alternatives available on the horizon,” said Air Marshal Bhatia. It needed these fighters to maintain numerical platform parity with both the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), but now the operational situation had become grimmer, he added.
Additionally, there were attendant delays in the long-deferred acquisition of 114 multi-role fighter aircraft (MRFA), the request for information (RfI) for which was dispatched by the IAF in April 2019. Even Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh had declared recently at his annual presser in October that the MRFA was needed ‘as of yesterday’, highlighting the criticality of timely platform procurements to sustain the IAF’s operational readiness, seemingly appealing to a deafened, or indifferent MoD.
The MRFA procurement envisages importing a squadron of 18 fighters in flyaway condition from a shortlisted original equipment manufacturer (OEM), six of who responded to the IAF’s RfI, offering eight fighter types. The remaining 96 platforms would be built indigenously, via a collaborative venture between the qualified OEM and a domestic strategic partner from either the private or public sector, with progressively enhanced levels of indigenisation in a deal currently estimated at around $25 billion.
The OEMs who had responded to the RfI included Dassault (Rafale), Eurofighter (Typhoon), Sweden’s Saab (Gripen-E), Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation and Sukhoi Corporation (MiG-35 ‘Fulcrum-F’ and Su-35 ‘Flanker-E’ respectively) and the US’s Boeing and Lockheed Martin (F/A-18E/F ‘Super Hornet’ and F-15EX ‘Eagle’ II and the F-21, principally an upgraded F-16 derivative, configured specially for the IAF).
IAF lags Pak, China in airborne early warning and control assets; suffers from shortage of fighter pilots, trainer craft
The IAF has also been evaluating the procurement of multi-role tanker transports, or MRTT, since 2012 to augment the reach and combat capability of its fighters. It aimed to replace its fleet of six Russian Ilyushin IL-78, ‘Midas’ tankers, acquired in 2004, which had consistently recorded abysmally low serviceability, duly recorded by several government watchdog parliamentary committees.
After issuing tenders for an MRTT on at least two occasions, and conducting user trials involving rival platforms, the IAF entered into advanced negotiations with France in early 2021 to initially lease one Airbus Defence and Space A330 as an aerial tanker.
The option of leasing aircraft, approved by the Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020, provided the IAF the opportunity to plug a major capability gap in its fighter fleet, and the MoD mulled the option of further leasing five additional A330s; nothing came of the venture.
The PAF, however, deploys four Ukrainian IL-78MP MRTT, while the PLAAF fields nearly 70 Y-20A and upgraded YY-20A mid-air refuellers, developed locally with assistance from Ukraine and Russia in the 1990s.
The IAF also lagged behind the PAF and the PLAAF in airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) assets, and has declared plans to induct 12 such platforms for enhanced surveillance, but has displayed little or no progress in acquiring them. Moreover, developing even this capability is dogged by delays and indecision, despite the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approving the DRDO’s Rs 109.90 billion programme to integrate these systems onto six Airbus commercial aircraft variants, presently in service with Air India.
The DRDO was expected to issue a tender to structurally upgrade these Airbus platforms for an estimated Rs 110 billion over three years ago, with the aim of conducting the first flight of the planned AEW&C aircraft in four years, and of completing the entire programme in seven.
Developing AEW&C systems locally has become a priority for the DRDO, albeit on paper, after the MoD embargoed their import in early 2021 along with scores of other platforms and materiel, all of which had barely progressed under the atamnirbharta or self-sufficiency ambit with regard to military kit.
The IAF presently operates three Israel Aerospace Industries designed EL/W-2090 Phalcon AEW&C systems it had acquired in 2004 with 360-degree coverage, that were fitted onto Uzbek IL-76TD A50 heavy transport aircraft, upgraded by Russia with Aviadvigatel PS-90A-76 engines, the last of which joined service in 2010. It also operates three indigenously designed Netra AEW&C systems mounted on a Brazilian Embraer EMB-145 that provided 240-degree coverage and surveillance ranges between 250-370 km. The PAF operates 13 AEW&C platforms and China around 65.
Further adding to the IAF’s woes is its enduring shortage of fighter pilots and trainer aircraft. According to a recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit, the IAF’s pilot shortage had risen from 496 in 2015 to 596 in May 2022. In its report tabled in parliament on December 17, the CAG stated that in early 2013, the MoD had informed the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee of its intent to procure 296 trainer platforms to instruct IAF fighter, transport and helicopter pilots till 2036, but had failed in doing so.
It revealed that the induction of 106 indigenously designed and built basic trainer aircraft and 73 similarly sourced intermediate jet trainers had not materialised, following all-round delays by HAL. In the meantime, IAF transport pilots continued their training on the older Dornier Do-228 trainers, while helicopter trainee pilots were still instructed on Chetaks, or licence-built French Alouette III rotary platforms, inducted into service over half a century ago.
The CAG declared that training on new helicopters was not forthcoming as 61 indigenously developed Dhruv Light Advanced Helicopters ‘could not materialise’ following delays in production by HAL. Consequently, the CAG voiced concern over pilots receiving ‘deficient’ training, which in turn could impact the IAFs accident rate.
But that, as they say, is yet another story.