IAF gets new deputy chief amid declining fighter strength

NEW DELHI: Even as the IAF awaits the induction of new fighters to retain its eroding combat edge, Air Marshal SBP Sinha took over as the new deputy chief of the force on Wednesday. An ace fighter pilot commissioned in June 1980, Air Marshal Sinha will have to steer all IAF modernization projects in his new assignment.

The foremost challenge in the crucial post for Air Marshal Sinha, who has clocked over 3,700 hours of flying Hunters, MiG-21s, Mirage-2000s and Sukhoi-30MKIs, will be to ensure that the continuing dip in the number of fighter squadrons in IAF is arrested.

IAF is down to just 34 fighter squadrons (each has 16 to 18 jets) due to progressive phasing out of virtually obsolete MiGs, when it requires at least 44 squadrons to deter Pakistan and China. The force has well chalked out fighter induction projects but they have been hit by long delays.

While it has already inducted over 190 of the 272 Sukhoi-30MKIs contracted from Russia for around $12 billion, IAF's topmost priority as of now is the almost $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project to induct 126 fighter jets.

The long-drawn MMRCA technical and commercial evaluation process began way back in August 2007, with the French Rafale fighter finally emerging the winner in January 2012. But the contract — under which the first 18 jets are to be imported and the rest manufactured under licence by HAL over six years — is still to be inked.

Similarly, IAF still awaits the final operational clearance (FOC) of the Tejas light combat aircraft despite the homegrown fighter being in the making for over 30 years now. As per revised timelines, the first full Tejas squadron in the IOC (initial operational clearance) configuration will be in place at the Sulur airbase in Tamil Nadu only by 2016-2017 at the earliest.

The second Tejas squadron, in the FOC configuration, will come thereafter. The four Tejas Mark-II squadrons, with more powerful American GE F-414 engines, will start becoming a reality from 2021-2022 onwards.