India Needs 35-40 New Jets Yearly
ACCORDING to the Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, the IAF requires between 35 and 40 fighter aircraft every year for two squadrons to fill shortages. ACM Singh said that though self-reliance was still the main focus, the promised production was still insufficient and options to bridge the gap were necessary, calling for an intensified involvement of the private sector.
At this time, the IAF possesses a strength of 31 fighter squadrons in contrast to the sanctioned strength of 42.5 squadrons. As deliveries of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Tejas Mk-1A Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) experience delays, several of the IAF’s fighters such as the aging SEPECAT Jaguars, MIG-29UPGs, Dassault Mirage 2000s are slated to be phased out by the end of this decade. The IAF will likely take delivery of a total 180 Mk-1As and another 120 Mk2s between 2028 and 2035.
The country’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) which produces the Tejas fighter jets have committed to produce 24 units of the jet next year. ACM Singh added,“We need to add two squadrons per year, which means we need 35-40 planes per year. So those capacities, I understand, cannot come up overnight. But we need to start pushing ourselves towards that. Now like the LCA Mk1A production, HAL has promised that from next year onwards, we will have 24 aircraft being made per year, plus some Sukhoi or some other aircraft. We are looking at numbers like 30 per year possible by HAL alone. We can get 12-18 jets per year from private participation.
ACM Singh also emphasised the importance of a self-sufficient defence manufacturing capacity to sustain prolonged conflicts, saying “If a homegrown system delivers 90 per cent or even 85 per cent of what is available in the world market, we will opt for it.”
He continued, “I foresee that we will have all aircraft at least above 4.5 generation. The simplest aircraft we will have will be a Rafale or an upgraded Su-30. All other aircraft will be better than that. There will be interoperability in terms of ground forces, land forces, and maritime forces in terms of communication networks, ‘op’ networks that we use. We should be able to talk to each other, transfer data, transfer targets on the fly. That is what my vision is.”
During the Aero India 2025 airshow in Bengaluru last week, Lockheed Martin’s F-35A Lightning II shared the tarmac with a Sukhoi Su-57 Felon, creating a buzz across the world as the two fifth-generation stealth fighters crossed paths for the first time.
Rosoboronexport offered the Su-57 to India while president Donald Trump offered the F-35 to India , saying “We’re also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 stealth fighters” during a press conference. Rosoboronexport announced that the proposal would revolve around local production of the airframes in India as early as this year, leveraging technology transfers to India. India via HAL has been working on their own indigenous fifth-gen fighter dubbed the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) since 2010. The AMCA will likely enter service around 2036 with the IAF expected to procure 120 AMCAs in the future.-shp/adj/dl (Pix:GETTY,IAF,DVIDS)