The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has said that the government shouldn’t wait to buy more fighter jets because there are always delays when it comes to buying fighter jets.
In a report given to the House, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense said that getting more fighter jets should not be put off any longer.
“To keep the force in a comfortable position, the government should think about buying state-of-the-art fifth-generation fighter aircraft without wasting time,” the committee said.
The Committee also asked the government to make a final decision about getting a third aircraft carrier. “In no uncertain terms, [we] recommend that the Ministry of Defence may take a final decision, chalk out a trajectory, and start the planning process for the third aircraft carrier, which would eventually improve India’s maritime capabilities,” the parliamentary panel said in its report on March 21.
The committee also said that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a public sector defence undertaking, was “considerably late” in sending 40 LCA Tejas jets.
The Indian Air Force’s $20 billion Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) programme is nowhere to be seen, as Financial Express reported earlier. The Indian Armed Forces and the Government think it’s important to get 114 Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft through the MRFA programme. This is because the IAF’s squadrons are getting smaller and smaller.
India’s aerospace ecosystem is also working on a number of projects. Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) are working together to make Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). Tejas MK2 is an ambitious project that is based on HAL’s design for the Tejas fighter plane. Mark 1A is the foundation for Tejas MK2.
India has a lot of programmes that aim to improve its manufacturing technology, but the focus of the IAF is still on the need for next-generation combat jets that are ready to use technology in case of future wars. Simply put, if these things happen, the IAF has to do what it is supposed to do.
The IAF’s Perspective Plan looks at it from the point of view of its combat assets, which are 42 squadrons. At present, IAF has 30 squadrons. Also, the IAF is getting rid of its last four MiG-21 squadrons by 2025, which will be the lowest number of squadrons ever.
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