DM Monitoring
New Delhi: As the combat aircraft strength of the Air Force has dipped to a historic low, Air Chief Mar-shal Amar Preet Singh has vowed to fight with “whatever we have”, saying that the focus is on pre-serving current assets and training personnel to use them in the correct manner.
While the Air Force has a sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons – the number has been approved after detailed deliberations given the threat status on the border – it has dwindled steadily over the past few years as older Soviet era fighters have retired and replacements have not been ordered to keep pace.
Speaking at his annual press interaction, the Air chief said that the production of indigenous light com-bat aircraft (LCA), which has been lagging behind times, needs to be hastened and new multi-role fighters are needed “as of yesterday” but no decision has yet been taken. It may be noted that the Air Force initiated the process to buy 114 multi-role fighters under a Make in India plan in 2018 but no pro-gress has been visible for the past six years.
“It is not a short term (thing) that, you know, overnight we can buy stuff. It takes time, not only just selection, but induction also takes time.
And along with that, even if we induct, let’s say two squadrons or three squadrons, certainly training takes time to be able to utilise them.
So what we are focusing on at the moment is to be able to fight with whatever we have immediately,” the Air chief said, clearly spelling out the dire shortage of combat aircraft.
Records show that the current strength of 31 squadrons is the lowest that India has had since 1965, when a war was fought with Pakistan. This number steadily increased after the 1965 war and peaked at 41 squadrons in 1996. As the aircraft profile changed, the strength dipped to 35 in 2013 and since then has gone steadily down.
Out of the 31 squadrons in service, two have been carrying out minimal flying and conserving their MiG 21 fighters that first saw action in the 1971 war. These aircraft have long reached end of life and their retirement is being postponed for years as the Air Force awaits the delivery of LCA Mk1A fighters.
The Air Chief, who has been closely associated with the LCA project, warned that lessons need to be learnt from the past to make sure there are no further delays. He also said that the private sector needs to be involved in producing the jets in a big manner. He added that if the timelines for LCA de-liveries are met and the multi-role fighter contract is signed, the Air Force will not be “badly off”.
