Losing Fight for Fighters

Gp Capt. A.K. Sachdev (retd)

In February 2014, when the fighter squadron strength of the Indian Air Force (IAF) was down to 34, the air force had declared to the Parliamentary Committee on Defence that managing a two front war would be a challenge. Two years later with the squadron strength having dropped to 33, the then Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa (later Chief of Air Staff) told the media that “our numbers are not adequate to fully execute an air campaign in a two-front scenario.” If there was any doubt about the IAF’s ability to conduct a two-front campaign, it was convincingly told in 2018 when that year’s edition of Exercise Gagan Shakti unfolded.

While the ostensible and stated objective was to practise for a two-front war, the exercise was conducted serially on two fronts, one after the other. While the first phase focused on India’s western borders in terms of deployment and operations, the second phase saw the same assets shifting to the northern borders. Thus, the exercise convincingly and credibly substantiated the IAF’s inability to conduct a two-front war. Five years down the line, the IAF’s squadron strength has dwindled to 31, less than three fourths of the sanctioned strength of 42 (an RTI query raised by this author seeking details of the document sanctioning 42 squadrons is being passed between Air HQ and the ministry of defence with both not appearing to know the answer).

Present Fleet

The latest MiG-21 accident on 8 May 2023 in Hanumangarh, Rajasthan, in which three civilians lost their lives led to the temporary grounding of the surviving three MiG-21 squadrons of the IAF. Besides these three squadrons, the IAF has in its inventory 12 squadrons of Su-30 MKI, six of Jaguar, three each of MiG-29 and Mirage 2000, two of Rafale (the last aircraft arrived in December last year) and two of Tejas (which are of limited operational capability and lack a trainer).

Of these, the three grounded MiG-21 squadrons are planned to be phased out gradually by 2025 while the Jaguar fleet will be phased out between 2025 and 2032. The MiG-29 and Mirage 2000 squadrons, whose induction began in the 1980s, would be finishing their lives by then and retired from service gradually until all are out of service by 2040. It is quite possible though that the IAF decides to continue squeezing some more years out of them (as in the case of the MiG-21, which started off as the pride of the IAF in the 1960s). The MiG-29s, Mirage 2000s and Jaguars are already operating on extended lifecycles.

                                                      Defence minister Rajnath Singh with his then French counterpart Florence Parly during the Rafale induction                                                              ceremony at Ambala in September 2020

The MiG-29s were inducted in 1986 and had a life cycle of 25 years, which was later extended during the mid-2000s to 40 years. This extension will expire starting in 2026 and a second life extension