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India's Air Force Has No Shortage of Shortfalls

India's Air Force Has No Shortage of Shortfalls
February 17, 2017 | 19:20 GMT

The combination of funding, acquisition and industrial problems are clouding what should be a bright defense outlook for India — with real-world consequences for the structure of its military force. For instance, the air force has a standing requirement for 42 squadrons each comprising about 18 combat aircraft, but it currently has fewer than 33 such squadrons. This number is expected to shrink to 22 by 2032. The declining number of combat aircraft is being driven by two factors. The first is the age of the fleet, with a high number of combat aircraft, including the MiG-21 and MiG-27, due to be retired in upcoming years. The second stems from the laborious process of procuring replacement aircraft. The 2001 tender for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), for instance, was originally intended to yield 126 fighter aircraft. By 2016, however, only 36 French Rafale jets had been ordered.

Procurement problems have also extended to the availability of spare parts. India's premier combat aircraft, the Su-30MKI, continues to suffer low serviceability rate — the share of the fleet available at any particular time — largely because of shortages of spare parts. The Indian air force has only recently managed to boost Su-30MKI readiness from 46 percent to around 63 percent. The military hopes that a prospective agreement with Russia facilitating production of spares in India will enable it to reach its serviceability rate goal of 75 percent in the coming years.

And the limitations of the Indian domestic arms industry are perhaps best highlighted by the effort to develop the Tejas light combat aircraft, a priority for an Indian military. The aircraft, developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., is already decades behind schedule and still not fully developed. Moreover, despite a significant effort to maximize indigenous components on the fighter, the key combat systems of the aircraft are of foreign origin. These include a U.S.-made engine, a Russian gun, an Israeli radar and a British ejection seat. Such obstacles will continue to hamper the future of Indian military modernization as it progresses through its period of growth and transition.

Stratfor noreply@stratfor.com via mail134-7.atl141.mandrillapp.com

If you ever come to know about India's REAL military strength --NOT the declared ones
you would faint for a while
 
Yes with laughter.

No you would faint actually in reality

Believe me ; Conventionally we are FAR FAR superior to you

The declared and official figures are meaning less and just for
pretense to hide our real defence expenditure

By the way Your military KNOWS about our real strength

They Did NOT know it before Kargil but after the FULL Mobilisation of
2001 ; all doubts were removed
 
And two aircraft make a squadron. :laugh:

We are increasing the production rate to 16 with help of our industry-I'm not quite sure whether that is possible in Pakistan, because PAC is the only certified aerospace vendor there
 
We are increasing the production rate to 16 with help of our industry-I'm not quite sure whether that is possible in Pakistan, because PAC is the only certified aerospace vendor there
The fifth squadron of JF-17 stood up just days earlier.
While our unilateral and joint productions like Mashaq, K-8 and JF-17 are being exported to dozens of customers, you on the other hand have to import even basics like the PC-7.....which incidentally first flew in 1966......now bring it on.

We have dedicated astronomy satellites for that purpose. Maybe binoculars will help your compatriots to identify predator drones from a distance.
Then again we are not the ones sitting on our backsides watching space for six months.
 
The fifth squadron of JF-17 stood up just days earlier.

And how many of those airframes were shipped from China ?

While our unilateral and joint productions like K-8 and JF-17 are being exported

And our indigeneously developed aircraft like Dhruv, Kiran etc have been produced & is serving in really large numbers.

you on the other hand have to import even basics like the PC-7

And incidentally we are producing Tejas, Sukhoi & Hawk at home. But you know,the most important thing is a basic trainer- which we have developed as back as the 50s. And is doing at the present

TSR001_HAL_HTT-40_VOYK_DSC_0039_1920px_WM.jpg
 
Still its begging and they said NO and if you so eager to shoot , but before shooting Indians try to shoot some drones who killing your own citizens and your winner air force is just watching the killings of the innocent locals :( ....

by the words as they are not worth paid ones ...i remember one quote ...grapes are sour

Actually we wanted free aircraft to shoot down the Indians as they are not worth paid ones. :)
 

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