The Gap is Growing

Gp Capt A K Sachdev (Retd)

The Indian Air Force (IAF) celebrates its 91st anniversary on October 8 this year and at the time of writing this, is gearing up for allied events. This year’s Air Force Day Parade and air display are planned to take place in Prayagraj and the President, Prime Minister, defence minister and the home minister are expected to attend.

During the build-up to the anniversary, the United Service Institution of India (USI) invited the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari to speak on ‘IAF at 100: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats’ on 29 August 2023. During his forthright and candid talk the CAS identified IAF’s weaknesses as the strength of fighter squadrons. He went on to talk about some initiatives to remedy this shortfall. At the end of his talk, he outlined a vision for the IAF, underlining the transition from a force driven by threats to one driven by its capabilities.

Present Strength

The sanctioned combat aircraft strength of the IAF is 42 squadrons (although this author’s efforts to confirm this sanction have proved fruitless as the Air Headquarters and the ministry of defence passed the RTI application back and forth without either of them offering a reply). The current squadron strength is 31 depending on which open source one consults. It includes two squadrons of the Rafale (the last aircraft arrived in December 2022), 12 of Su-30 MKI, three each of MiG-21, MiG-29 and Mirage 2000, six of Jaguar and two of Tejas (which are of limited operational capability and lack a trainer).

Of these, the three MiG-21 squadrons are planned to be phased out over the next two years, the last in 2025. The Jaguars, MiG-29s and Mirage 2000s are already operating on extended lifecycles. The Jaguar fleet will be phased out between 2025 and 2032, following the First In First Out norm. By then, the MiG-29 and Mirage 2000 squadrons, whose induction began in the 1980s, would be finishing their lives and retired from service, unless of course the IAF is forced to operate them beyond their useful lives. The MiG 29s and Mirage 2000s will be out of service by 2040.

The Jaguar was inducted into the IAF in 1978 and was later produced in India by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) under licence. With fair use, the thrust of the original engines has reduced by around 20 per cent and replacement engines are horrendously expensive at over Rs 200 crore a pair. Meanwhile, plans to install an Indian engine have been still born as India has not produced any worthwhile engine so far. Thus, another upgrade is not considered wise and the IAF continues to use the aircraft.

The MiG-29s were inducted in 1986 and had a life c