Two front war against Pakistan and China, Indian Air Force Chief unveils the massive future plans
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ISLAMABAD - Over the self created hype of two front war against Pakistan and China, Indian Air Force Chief unveils the future plans for the Indian Air Force procurements.
Indian Air Force (IAF) has no plan to operate foreign-made Fifth Generation Fighter 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 arsenal with the first batch having four fighters.
Instead of looking for a foreign-made 5th Generation stealth combat aircraft, the IAF is concentrating on getting the indigenous Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) in its arsenal and also eyeing 114 Medium Multi-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 of Necessity (AON) from the Defence Ministry after finalising the Air Staff Quality Requirements (ASQR) for the MMRCA programme. "We will take further steps in due course," he said.
Russia is keen to sell its 5th Generation stealth fighter Sukhoi Su-57E to India but ACM Bhadauria's statement on going in for an indigenous fighter will be a big boost for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited AMCA programme.
The other big-bang announcement by the IAF Chief was prioritising 83 Light Combat Aircraft Tejas Mark 1A for the force. To ensure that simultaneous threats from Pakistan and China are successfully tackled, the IAF needs 42 squadrons of combat aircraft but is currently down to just 30 as the older MiG-21s and MiG-27s have been retire
