Originally posted by Officer of Engineers
View Post
Sir, there is a fleet of ~140 Jaguars, ~140 Mig-27s, ~70 Mig-29s, and over 150 Mig-21s, which needs immediate replacement. The Mig-21 fleet is quickly being decommissioned while its replacement, the HAL Tejas is still nowhere in sight. The 450 strong Mig-21 fleet in the 80s has dropped to 150 today, with 50 more aircraft slated to retire by the end of this year, and the rest by 2014. ~70 Mig-23s too were taken out of service without being adequately replaced. The fast depleting combat strength makes the MMRCA tender all the more necessary.
IAF's sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons had dropped to 33 squadrons due to all these retirements. That is the reason the number of Su-30s in the IAF has gone up from the original decision to induct 140 to 272 today. The MMRCA too is expected to increase from 123 aircraft to well over 200.
The IAF had, about a decade back, made a request to the MoD to simply buy the entire Mirage-2000 production line from France and shift it to India; but due to all single vendor deals being under a lot of skepticism in India due to possibility of corruption, it was decided rather to float a global tender, giving birth to the MMRCA competition.
The Indian Navy is also now eyeing the Rafale, because they too are in need of replacements for their ageing Sea Harrier force. And with the army now pushing for the expansion of their own aviation arm, the Navy has already put these plans in motion, and the slated induction of a 3 carrier force keeps the air force at bay against questioning the Navy's requirements.
Comment