IAF Chief justifies government decision to buy Rafale jets

NEW DELHI: Air Chief BS Dhanoa on Wednesday said that government’s decision to procure French Rafale fighter jets and Russian S-400 air defence missile system will help to fill the gap in IAF's combat capabilities.

"We do not have the numbers, against a sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons, we are down to 31. Even when we do have 42 squadrons, we will be below the combined numbers of two of our regional adversaries," he said at a seminar on Air Force structure in Delhi.

"The high-tech fighters like Rafale are needed because medium-tech fighters like Tejas alone cannot do. IAF is investing heavily in Tejas, looking at 12 squadrons of Tejas Mark-2 after first 123 Mark-1A jets," Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said.


“No country is facing the kind of grave threat that India is confronted with. Intentions of our adversaries can change overnight. We need to match force level of our adversaries,” he admitted.

The air chief also said that India's neighbours are not sitting idle and countries like China are modernising its air force significantly.

He also justified procurement of only two Rafale jet squadrons, saying there were example of similar purchases.

"Whenever the government felt the air power element of the defence forces is likely to be in a disadvantageous position, it has gone in for emergency purchases of the aircraft under the umbrella of the inter-governmental agreement," he explained.

"The history is that the government had undertaken emergency purchase of fighter aircraft on several occasions in the past," he said.
The previous UPA government was negotiating a deal with French aerospace giant Dassault Aviation, the makers of the Rafale, for procuring 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA). However the deal could not be sealed.

When asked about the IAF's initial requirement of 126 Rafale jets while the current deal involves 36 planes, the Air Chief said “you should read history. When ever there is an inter-governmental agreement, always two squadrons bought”. He further said that this is not the first time we did an IGA citing an emergency situation in reference to Rafale, in January 1983 Pakistan bought F-16s and we got two squadrons of Mig-21 from Russia. We also bought two squadrons of mirage 2000 from France.

The two squadrons will have 36 jets.

He added that acquisitions under IGA are "faster" and the quickest means of achieving operational capability of the IAF.

Deputy Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar said that the Rafale jets will form the cornerstone of our high end fighter capability which will be inducted from next year.

"Based on threats from Pakistan and China, we identified the capability gaps. Our main demands are to undertake full spectrum, all weather ops, and standoff precision strikes."

The IAF also defended the Rafale deal pointing out that the country got the Rafale with most modern avionics with India specific enhancements for better delivery along with better maintenance terms.

(With agency inputs)