Guest Column | Army’s Mini Air Force

Lt Gen. B.S. Pawar (retd)

On 1 November 2016, the Army Aviation Corps completed 30 years of its existence since its formation on 1 November 1986. However, at the end of these 30 years it continues to fly the outdated, vintage and unsafe fleet of Cheetah/Chetak helicopters, is faced with a muddled and confused government policy on ownership of Attack Helicopters (AH), has been denied its legitimate requirements of medium and heavy lift helicopters to enhance tactical lift, special operations and logistics capability and of course, to even think of acquiring fixed wing aircraft for its communication requirements seems a distant dream.

A decade back the army had even processed a case for acquisition of a 10-12 tonne class of helicopter for its special operations aviation units, calling it the ‘Tactical Battle Support Helicopter (TBSH)’ with the active involvement of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). However, this project also did not see the light of day due to intricate turf wars within the armed forces. It was though heartening to see HAL display a mock-up of the 10-12 tonne class multi-role helicopter during Aero India 2017 in February this year. But its development in the near future remains a question mark.

The present trend and growth trajectory of the army’s air arm leaves one wondering whether it is truly on the path to becoming the Indian Army’s ‘mini air force’ as some in the print media and outside would have us believe. The only positive development in the Army Aviation’s growth plan has been the induction of the HAL made ALH-Dhruv helicopters. The army already has an inventory of approximately 80 Dhruvs and this fleet is expected to expand in the coming years.

It will be worthwhile to point out here that all major armies of the world have a suitably equipped and operationally potent air arm (Army Aviation Corps), which have in their inventory not only all types and class of helicopters to include attack, medium and heavy lift, but also fixed wing aircraft for communications and logistics.

In fact, both our adversaries China and Pakistan have a very potent and effective air arm of their respective armies. The Pakistan Army Aviation has in its inventory the likes of MI-17 and Chinook helicopters in the medium/ heavy lift category and the MI-25/MI-35 and Huey Cobras AH — as per reports Pakistan has also acquired the Chinese Z 10 state-of-the-art AH which has only recently been inducted into the Chinese army aviation.

Closer home, the two Paramilitary organisations in our country, the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Coast Guard also have their own air wings, with their inventory consisting of the HAL manufactured ALH, the MI-17V5 (latest version of Russian MI-17 helicopters recently inducted into the air force in large numbers – approximately 180) and the SeaKing multirole helicopters (in service with the navy) as well as the Dornier class fixed wing aircraft. This certainly leaves one wondering why the 1.3 million strong Indian Army, the third largest in the world, is still fighting turf battles and justifying its requirement to suitably equip and arm its air arm, in