Fighting unfit

Fighting unfit

Ageing IAF aircraft seriously undermine the country’s security architecture.

In another big indictment of the quality of the fighter squadrons with the air force, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa has said that his MiG-21s are so old that no one even drives cars of that vintage. The air force chief ’s assessment reflects a suboptimal level of war preparedness. There is a severe shortage of fighter squadrons that needs to be remedied immediately if India is to meet its varied security challenges. The IAF is down to just 30 fighter squadrons which in a few years will be whittled further to 26. In comparison much smaller Pakistan will have 25 fighter squadrons by 2021.

This hardware deficit was brought home during the post Balakot air skirmishes with Pakistan earlier this year when ageing MiG-21 Bisons were deployed against Pakistani F-16s. It was in those skirmishes that Wing Commander Abhinandan’s MiG was shot down by Pakistani forces after he himself downed a Pakistani F-16. If these conditions persist, victory in war will only come at huge costs. The IAF’s hardware woes are due to a combination of ageing aircraft, tardy pace of indigenisation and slow induction of foreign imports. Even the 36 Rafale jets being bought from France are yet to see delivery.

So acute is the situation that IAF earlier this year was looking to acquire 21 MiG-29 jets lying in a mothballed condition in Russia since the 1980s. And all this ‘jugaad’ is at a time when other forces are looking to fifth- and sixth-generation fighters. Understandably, the budget for weapons modernisation is tight. But funds can be freed up by pursuing greater integration within the forces and creating joint theatre commands. And to move along this tri-service architecture it is imperative that the post of chief of defence staff is inaugurated forthwith.