New Delhi: Asserting that the Indian Air Force will remain deployed at forward locations till there is complete disengagement by the Chinese forces in eastern Ladakh, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari, said on Tuesday that where the IAF cannot “counter the numbers or the might of the adversary”, that “we will counter it through better tactics and better training”.
The Indian Air Force is also on a mega Make-in-India drive with upto Rs 3 lakh crores in projects lined up to be signed, including 97 Tejas Mark 1A aircraft (Rs 1.15 lakh crores), 156 Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) Prachand (Rs 45,000 crores), upgradation of 84 Su-30 fighter aircraft (Rs 60,000 crores), Akash new generation missiles and long-range surface-to-air missile Kusha, among others. These projects will be delivered in seven to eight years.
With the Indian Air Force squadron strength way less than the sanctioned 42, Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said that the IAF “needs the numbers, the threat you are aware are from various fronts today”. Addressing a press conference ahead of Air Force Day on October 8, the Air Chief added: “The challenges come from the newer technology platforms that our adversary possesses today… we need to match the technology with equivalent or better technology.”
Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said complete disengagement had not yet taken place at the Line of Actual Control with China and the IAF was constantly monitoring the situation across the border through intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). He said that the sheer number of radars and surface-to-air guided weapons was quite large and India was also looking to deploy mountain radars at strategic locations to be able to see equally deep into the adversary’s territory.
“We make note of the buildup of resources and capabilities across the borders. Our operational plans are dynamic and keep changing based on the situation that we perceive that is developing across any front. In places where cannot really counter the numbers or the might of the adversary, we will counter it through better tactics and better training… We have very flexible and dynamic war plans, which we keep on revising based on the ISR inputs we get,” he said.
Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said that there was transfer of technology taking place between Pakistan and China and both are also conducting joint exercises. Pakistan is manufacturing JF-17 fighter aircraft and also inducting J-10 aircraft. “Wherever we can counter technology with technology, we will do it. Where we cannot, we will do it with better tactics and training and they will be continuously evolved. Since we have seen that both have now similar type of capability our tactics have been changed,” he said.
Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said the IAF received three units of S-400 air defence missile systems from Russia and due to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine more units have not been sent. He hoped that in one year the supply of S-400s will resume. India has signed a contract for five squadrons of the S-400 air defence missile system. Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said the IAF was also pushing to get indigenously-built Kusha long-range surface-to-air missile systems for the long-range air defence systems developed by DRDO.
The IAF Chief said that the Air Force will stop flying MiG-21 fighter aircraft by 2025 and will replace the MiG-21 squadron with the LCA Mark 1A. “In another month or so, the second squadron will get number-plated and we will follow with the third one sometime next year. The induction of the LCA Mark 1A will fill the gap of these outgoing MiG-21s,” he said.
On the accident between a Sukhoi-30 and a Mirage 2000 in Madhya Pradesh in January, in which one pilot waw killed, the IAF Chief said it was the result of a human error.
