ISLAMABAD – Over the self created hype of two front war against Pakistanand China, Indian Air Force Chief unveils the future plans for the IndianAir Force procurements.
Indian Air Force (IAF) has no plan to operate foreign-made Fifth GenerationFighter Aircraft (FGFA) or procure 36 more Rafale fighter jets from France.May 2020 will see the Rafale jet land in India as part of the IAF arsenalwith the first batch having four fighters.
Instead of looking for a foreign-made 5th Generation stealth combataircraft, the IAF is concentrating on getting the indigenous AdvancedMedium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) in its arsenal and also eyeing 114 MediumMulti-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) to enhance its war-waging capabilities,announced Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria on Friday.
He stated that IAF has started the process of getting the Acceptance ofNecessity (AON) from the Defence Ministry after finalising the Air StaffQuality Requirements (ASQR) for the MMRCA programme. “We will take furthersteps in due course,” he said.
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Russia is keen to sell its 5th Generation stealth fighter Sukhoi Su-57E toIndia but ACM Bhadauria’s statement on going in for an indigenous fighterwill be a big boost for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited AMCA programme.
The other big-bang announcement by the IAF Chief was prioritising 83 LightCombat Aircraft Tejas Mark 1A for the force. To ensure that simultaneousthreats from Pakistan and China are successfully tackled, the IAF needs 42squadrons of combat aircraft but is currently down to just 30 as the olderMiG-21s and MiG-27s have been retire
