IAF Needs a 'Mirage' Touch

[NKVD]

The IAF's fighter strength has been a cause of worry. It is hoped that the new government will take an early decision on clearing the purchase of 126 French Rafale multi-role combat jets. Negotiations have been underway since January 2012.

The IAF's fighter strength has been a cause of worry. It is hoped that the new government will take an early decision on clearing the purchase of 126 French Rafale multi-role combat jets. Negotiations have been underway since January 2012. There is a sense of urgency as further delays in the acquisition will upset the IAF's plan to sustain its minimum operational strength.

The acquisition of new multi-role jets has already stretched over a decade. A change of guard in the Defence Ministry is expected to give a much-needed fillip for the acquisition process.While clearing the much-delayed Rafale contract, the acquisition planners in the Defence Ministry should also consider purchasing new Mirage-2000s as an urgent measure to tackle the problem of dwindling numbers of fighter jets.

The IAF had purchased 49 Mirage 2000s. The two Mirage crashes in 2012 further reduced the fleet.There is an urgent need to replenish Mirages considered to be one of the most dependable fighters for the IAF. The Defence Ministry will have to take a call soon on replenishing the fleet which is already undergoing major upgrades that will ensure it remains with the IAF for another four decades.

The aircraft complements well with the new acquisitions of the French Rafale. The IAF had considered replenishing its Mirage fleet earlier also but the proposal never took off.The Defence Ministry now has the opportunity to take it up again.

Defence News - IAF needs a 'Mirage' touch


IAF needs a ‘mirage’ touch | idrw.org

 

[Tshering22]

Actually, we need about 200 Rafales in along with 250 Tejas jets to somehow balance our heavy fighter fleet. Even with PAKFA in, we will be too stretched on the MKIs to do everything for us.

 

[NKVD]

Actually, we need about 200 Rafales in along with 250 Tejas jets to somehow balance our heavy fighter fleet. Even with PAKFA in, we will be too stretched on the MKIs to do everything for us.

The Problem is with depleting Iaf day by day Mate Lca Production is Slow and We get rafale not before 2017 or may be jan 2018. fgfa is beyond 2020. And Our pilots are Bound to Fly Mig 21 "Flying coffins".the MOS should think about getting few mirage's Second hand to Maintain Balance of Depleting Minimum Flying Squadrons Till we get New ones.

 

[Tshering22]

The Problem is with depleting Iaf day by day Mate Lca Production is Slow and We get rafale not before 2017 or may be jan 2018. fgfa is beyond 2020. And Our pilots are Bound to Fly Mig 21 "Flying coffins".the MOS should think about getting few mirage's Second hand to Maintain Balance of Depleting Minimum Flying Squadrons Till we get New ones.

Then in order to speed up, we can simply buy ready made Rafales from French air force. Sarkozy said that we could buy a squadron of French air force while Dassault ramped up production.

As for Tejas, it has to be sped up. We need to start with 15-20 jets a year production capability. Either we hire, or we outsource production to conglomerates with transferring them the know how.

That's the only way.

Thanks to Al Khangress.

 

[NKVD]

Then in order to speed up, we can simply buy ready made Rafales from French air force. Sarkozy said that we could buy a squadron of French air force while Dassault ramped up production.
As for Tejas, it has to be sped up. We need to start with 15-20 jets a year production capability. Either we hire, or we outsource production to conglomerates with transferring them the know how.
That's the only way.
Thanks to Al Khangress.

We are Already buying ready made 16 Rafale but we get them not before 2017. Tejas will reach high production rate after manufacturing process will get mature.till then We can buy few mirages from Saudis or France to fill the gap we get in process of modernization which will need some time to get Along

 

[Abingdonboy]

new Mirage-2000s

The M2K has been out of production for over a decade now, no M2K the IAF could get its hands on would be "new".


@Topic, needlessly wasteful IMHO, no need to panic- the next 24 months will see the LCA and Rafale indications begin to compliment the MKI inductions that are already going on. Yes in terms of numbers by around 2020 the IAF will be down but in terms of capabilities it will be on a whole different planet. 100 Rafales/LCAs are VASTLY more capable than 280+ Mig-21s/27s. Whilst the IAF is replacing every existing fighter on a 1-1 basis the truth is the capability of the force is gong to be expanded by a force far higher than 1- think 4-5, perhaps more.

All this alarmism is undue IMHO. The real issue is not the SQD falling by the end of this decade (although it will sharply go up after this low) but the risk to the lives of the MIG-21/27 pilots who will have to fly these aged birds for another 4-7 years. Sadly we can expect more crashes and (whilst I hope not) fatalities of these professionals.

 

[NKVD]

All this alarmism is undue IMHO. The real issue is not the SQD falling by the end of this decade (although it will sharply go up after this low) but the risk to the lives of the MIG-21/27 pilots who will have to fly these aged birds for another 4-7 years. Sadly we can expect more crashes and (whilst I hope not) fatalities of these professionals
All this alarmism is undue IMHO. The real issue is not the SQD falling by the end of this decade
.

The Problem is with this part only Mos Knows That in Future there will be more crashes Its like playing with fire We are Wasting Lives of are great officers for few billion dollars.My problem is With stretching of Mig-21 for one more decade is foolish .Its a Waste of talent Options are Available But we are Watching are great pilots Dying every year for few chunks of money It's pitiful.

 

[sancho]

The Problem is with this part only Mos Knows That in Future there will be more crashes Its like playing with fire We are Wasting Lives of are great officers for few billion dollars.My problem is With stretching of Mig-21 for one more decade is foolish .Its a Waste of talent Options are Available But we are Watching are great pilots Dying every year for few chunks of money It's pitiful.

It's just a matter of management! On the one side we need to phase the Migs out faster to keep our pilots safe, while we have to speed up upgrades of Mig 29 and Mirage 2000, as well as inductions of new fighters, since both counters the reducing squadron numbers.

The best choice would be:

- let Dassault take over the upgrade of all Mirage 2000s (faster and would even reduce the costs), while HAL focuses on Mig 29 upgrade as well as induction of new fighters
- try to procure the 12 x Qatari Mirage 2000s, when they go for Rafale (easy integration to the fleet)
- add 1 more LCA MK1 squadron to the order (4 in 2014 / 8 - 2015 / 16 - 2016 / 16 - 2017 / 16 - 2018 => 60 MK1 => MK2 production from 2019 onwards)
- try to get more MMRCA winners directly by the winning countries, possbily even before 2018


Result:

- 5 x additional MKI squads
- 3 x LCA MK1 squads
- 1 x addtional Mirage 2000 squad
- at least 1 x MMRCA squad
=> total of at least 10 new squads till 2019, more possible with more direct MMRCAs

 

[NKVD]

It's just a matter of management! On the one side we need to phase the Migs out faster, to keep our pilots safe, while we have to speed up upgrades to Mig 29 and Mirage 2000, as well as inductions of new fighters, since both counters the reducing squadron numbers.

The best choice would be:

- let Dassault take over the upgrade of all Mirage 2000s (faster and would even reduce the costs), while HAL focuses on Mig 29 upgrade as well as induction of new fighters
- try to procure the 12 x Qatari Mirage 2000s, when they go for Rafale (easy integration to the fleet)
- add 1 more LCA MK1 squadron to the order (4 in 2014 / 8 - 2015 / 16 - 2016 / 16 - 2017 / 16 - 2018 => 60 MK1 => MK2 production from 2019 onwards)
- try to get more MMRCA winners directly by the winning countries, possbily even before 2018


Result:

- 5 x additional MKI squads
- 3 x LCA MK1 squads
- 1 x addtional Mirage 2000 squad
- at least 1 x MMRCA squad
=> total of at least 10 new squads till 2019, more possible with more direct MMRCAs

Yeah your views are much realistic and can be achieved hope new MoD will do something about it. Actually I was devasted from the mig-21 Bison crash two days back our politicians have so much money for corruption but when it's come to saving life's of Soilders they cry about funds it's only happens in India

 

[GreenFalcon]

Yeah your views are much realistic and can be achieved hope new MoD will do something about it. Actually I was devasted from the mig-21 Bison crash two days back our politicians have so much money for corruption but when it's come to saving life's of Soilders they cry about funds it's only happens in India

I think purchasing more Mirage 2000s is a good temporary solution but not in the long term, but I agree with you that the process for acquiring the Dassault Rafale needs to speed up

 

[NKVD]

I think purchasing more Mirage 2000s is a good temporary solution but not in the long term, but I agree with you that the process for acquiring the Dassault Rafale needs to speed up

We need temporary solutions only we already panned for longterm Rafale deal will be signed by year end.Mig-21 should be depleted it's don't match IAF standards

 

[Desertfalcon]

I think purchasing more Mirage 2000s is a good temporary solution but not in the long term, but I agree with you that the process for acquiring the Dassault Rafale needs to speed up

OK, odd in that you are Pakistani, but I agree. I think something like refurbished Mirage 2000's upgraded by someone like Israel Aerospace Industries, as they have done with Chilean and Colombian Mirages and Turkish F-4E's, would work nicely.

 

[GreenFalcon]

OK, odd in that you are Pakistani, but I agree

Deep down inside we care for each other but very very very deep down.

 

[sancho]

Actually I was devasted from the mig-21 Bison crash two days back

Of course, but feelings should not take over rational thinking here. We need to get the best out of the MMRCA deal and should not take a quick shot because of this issue.

 

[NKVD]

Of course, but feelings should not take over rational thinking here. We need to get the best out of the MMRCA deal and should not take a quick shot because of this issue.

Yeah I know that rafale's are beast omni role fighter it will Make us Superior two any air force in the region including PLAAF.One question @sancho I heard rumour meteor will be not integrated in First batch of delivered rafale's is that true