India hunts for fighter aircraft other than Rafales

HASIMARA (NORTH BENGAL): The Indian Air Force (IAF) is hunting for fighter aircraft apart from the Rafale medium multi-role combat ones and the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) to meet the existing shortage, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said after the handing over of Presidential Standards to two Mig-27ML squadrons by President Pranab Mukherjee at Air Force Station Hasimara on Saturday. The IAF would be forming several more squadrons in the next few years, the air chief said.

"There are shortages. We will be retiring the Mig-27MLs that have not been upgraded in the last 2-3 years. One of the squadrons at Hasimara will also be retired in 2016. We are looking forward to receiving the Rafales. Apart from this, there are other aircraft we are looking at. We will also be getting more Su-30MKIs. An order has also been placed for 120 Tejas Mk-IIs. There are many plans and things will change in the next 10-12 years," Raha said in response to a question from TOI.

He did not elaborate on which aircraft India has its eye set upon. According to sources, it could well be the F-18 Super Hornet that had competed with the Rafale when India was on the lookout for 126 MMRCAs. Recently, Boeing has offered to set up a manufacturing facility in India and manufacture F-18s to suit the country's needs. So has Dassault, the French company that manfactures Rafales. Without being specific, Raha made it clear that the IAF no longer wants to get over-reliant on any particular variety of aircraft. If the un-upgraded Mig-27MLs are to be retired, the IAF is likely to lose two more squadrons in the near future.

Raha said that creation of assets depends on threat perceptions and steps are being taken to build infrastructure. "There are voids, both infrastructure and security-wise, both in the northeastern states and elsewhere in the country. We are working towards upgrading Advanced Landing Grounds to accommodate fixed wing aircraft as well. As of now, we don't have plans to build new air bases in the northeastern sector but will upgrade existing ones. However, we are trying to share civil airfields at certain locations. The government is also looking towards the building of roads and other infrastructure for better connectivity and development, economic and otherwise," he said.

According to him, there are several unused air bases in West Bengal that may get activated in the days to come. Land acquisition is not and issue as the IAF has enough property of its own in the state. The Rampurhat air field has already been activated. Some IAF aircraft are also landing and taking-off from Rampurhat to check out conditions. Though infrastructure is being created in this sector, Raha doesn't believe that China should be treated as an adversary.

"They have been aggressive in the past. We do have some border issues but better co-operation and understanding will have to be achieved for overall development of the region. Both are large countries with huge populations. They can work better together. India has a very important role to play internationally and to maintain this, we will have to increase our military capabilities. While working towards this, there are plans to base important hardware at Hasimara."