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INTERVIEW
Date Posted: 15-Jan-2009
Jane's Defence Weekly
Interview: Air Chief Marshal Fali H Major, Indian Air Force Chief
Rahul Bedi JDW Correspondent - New Delhi
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is undergoing extensive modernisation to render it a balanced strategic and modern air force, enhancing not only its combat potential but also the way it conducts operations, said IAF Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Fali H Major.
"It is finetuning its operational philosophy, doctrines and warfighting tactics to emerge as a robust power over the next decade to back resurgent India's escalating economic and regional profile," ACM Major said.
By 2020-22, ACM Major declared, the IAF would have inducted 'formidable' assets, such as three airborne early-warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft; 126 multirole combat aircraft (MRCAs); light, medium and heavylift helicopters; and a range of precision attack munitions and beyond-visual-range ordnance that would support out-of area operations and varied contingencies.
Further moves to enhance overall efficiency include the purchase of additional air-refuelling tankers and heavy transport aircraft as well as the upgrading of its existing fleet of transporters and 39 major airfields to accommodate a variety of platforms. It will augment the IAF's significantly depreciated air-defence structure through imported and indigenous quick-reaction missile systems, sensors and radars, including additional aerostat systems.
ACM Major said that by year-end the IAF would have confirmed the countrywide installation of its fibre-optic Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) to achieve a network-centric capability.
In addition, establishing a joint services space command headed by the air force would exponentially bolster the IAF's burgeoning intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance competence alongside that of the army and navy.
"It is the IAF's endeavour to possess a range of capabilities that provide the country's leadership options across the entire spectrum of conflict, enabling it to dominate operations in the area and time of its choosing," ACM Major said. The evolving IAF, he added, would be demonstrably more lethal, agile and commanding.
This aspect, he said, was on display during the IAF's initial participation in the US Air Force-hosted, multination 'Red Flag' exercises at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in 2008 when India deployed eight Sukhoi Su-30MKI multirole fighters, two Ilyushin Il-78 tankers, one Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft and 247 personnel including its 'Garuda' special forces.
"'Red Flag' was a tremendous confidence booster for the IAF," ACM Major said. During the exercise the IAF established that it could "comfortably" ferry 11 combat and transport aircraft thousands of miles from home with a built-in logistics chain and sustain them for more than two months.
The manoeuvres also confirmed the IAF's ability to project air power trans-continentally and operate "seamlessly" with other advanced air forces to execute high-intensity operations.
"As India's areas of interest and economic competition proliferate, so will its strategic boundaries widen, even though localised threats will continue to persist, at least while border disputes with neighbouring China and Pakistan remain unsettled," ACM Major said.
He said that by 2014-15 the IAF's combat assets would include 230 imported and indigenously built Su-30MKIs, 51 upgraded Mirage 2000Hs, 67 MiG-29s and 63 Jaguar attack aircraft equipped with the Display Attack and Ranging Inertial Navigation (DARIN II) avionics suite capable of delivering precision-guided munitions. Around 120 upgraded MiG-21bis 'Fishbed-L' and 40 retrofitted MiG-27M 'Flogger-J' ground-attack fighters with improved avionics and weapon delivery systems would complete the package.
ACM Major said the depletion of combat squadron strength as MiG variants retire, although "worrisome", would be offset by enhanced licensed production of 23 Su-30MKIs annually - up from 18 aircraft - by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bangalore and the "timely" induction of 126 aircraft under the MRCA programme.
The INR420 billion (USD 9.5 billion) MRCA contract, for which Boeing (with the F/A-18E/F), Dassault (Rafale), Eurofighter (Typhoon,) Lockheed Martin (F-16), Russian Aircraft Corporation (RSK)-MiG (MiG-35) and Saab (JAS 39 Gripen) are competing, is on schedule with technical evaluations continuing.
The selected aircraft's induction is likely to take place by 2014-15 and be completed by 2022.
ACM Major said this would not only restore the IAF's offensive capability to some 39 squadrons - up from around 30-32 at present - but also significantly boost its firepower, agility and operational envelope.
"MRCA flight and laboratory evaluations at home and abroad will begin by April 2009 and take about a year to conclude," ACM Major confirmed, adding that in all likelihood each of the six competing platforms would be assessed as they were all "kingpins". Thereafter, protracted price negotiations would begin.
Under the terms of purchase, the first 18 MRCAs would be acquired in a 'fly-away' condition with the remaining 108 built indigenously under licence. The selected vendor would also be required to undertake an offset obligation of 50 per cent - up from the mandatory 30 per cent - of the contact value.
"The MRCA offset option offers India's aerospace industry a godsend opportunity to grow substantially," said ACM Major. He remains a supporter of increased private-sector participation in India's state-dominated military-industrial complex.
Date Posted: 15-Jan-2009
Jane's Defence Weekly
Interview: Air Chief Marshal Fali H Major, Indian Air Force Chief
Rahul Bedi JDW Correspondent - New Delhi
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is undergoing extensive modernisation to render it a balanced strategic and modern air force, enhancing not only its combat potential but also the way it conducts operations, said IAF Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Fali H Major.
"It is finetuning its operational philosophy, doctrines and warfighting tactics to emerge as a robust power over the next decade to back resurgent India's escalating economic and regional profile," ACM Major said.
By 2020-22, ACM Major declared, the IAF would have inducted 'formidable' assets, such as three airborne early-warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft; 126 multirole combat aircraft (MRCAs); light, medium and heavylift helicopters; and a range of precision attack munitions and beyond-visual-range ordnance that would support out-of area operations and varied contingencies.
Further moves to enhance overall efficiency include the purchase of additional air-refuelling tankers and heavy transport aircraft as well as the upgrading of its existing fleet of transporters and 39 major airfields to accommodate a variety of platforms. It will augment the IAF's significantly depreciated air-defence structure through imported and indigenous quick-reaction missile systems, sensors and radars, including additional aerostat systems.
ACM Major said that by year-end the IAF would have confirmed the countrywide installation of its fibre-optic Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) to achieve a network-centric capability.
In addition, establishing a joint services space command headed by the air force would exponentially bolster the IAF's burgeoning intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance competence alongside that of the army and navy.
"It is the IAF's endeavour to possess a range of capabilities that provide the country's leadership options across the entire spectrum of conflict, enabling it to dominate operations in the area and time of its choosing," ACM Major said. The evolving IAF, he added, would be demonstrably more lethal, agile and commanding.
This aspect, he said, was on display during the IAF's initial participation in the US Air Force-hosted, multination 'Red Flag' exercises at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in 2008 when India deployed eight Sukhoi Su-30MKI multirole fighters, two Ilyushin Il-78 tankers, one Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft and 247 personnel including its 'Garuda' special forces.
"'Red Flag' was a tremendous confidence booster for the IAF," ACM Major said. During the exercise the IAF established that it could "comfortably" ferry 11 combat and transport aircraft thousands of miles from home with a built-in logistics chain and sustain them for more than two months.
The manoeuvres also confirmed the IAF's ability to project air power trans-continentally and operate "seamlessly" with other advanced air forces to execute high-intensity operations.
"As India's areas of interest and economic competition proliferate, so will its strategic boundaries widen, even though localised threats will continue to persist, at least while border disputes with neighbouring China and Pakistan remain unsettled," ACM Major said.
He said that by 2014-15 the IAF's combat assets would include 230 imported and indigenously built Su-30MKIs, 51 upgraded Mirage 2000Hs, 67 MiG-29s and 63 Jaguar attack aircraft equipped with the Display Attack and Ranging Inertial Navigation (DARIN II) avionics suite capable of delivering precision-guided munitions. Around 120 upgraded MiG-21bis 'Fishbed-L' and 40 retrofitted MiG-27M 'Flogger-J' ground-attack fighters with improved avionics and weapon delivery systems would complete the package.
ACM Major said the depletion of combat squadron strength as MiG variants retire, although "worrisome", would be offset by enhanced licensed production of 23 Su-30MKIs annually - up from 18 aircraft - by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bangalore and the "timely" induction of 126 aircraft under the MRCA programme.
The INR420 billion (USD 9.5 billion) MRCA contract, for which Boeing (with the F/A-18E/F), Dassault (Rafale), Eurofighter (Typhoon,) Lockheed Martin (F-16), Russian Aircraft Corporation (RSK)-MiG (MiG-35) and Saab (JAS 39 Gripen) are competing, is on schedule with technical evaluations continuing.
The selected aircraft's induction is likely to take place by 2014-15 and be completed by 2022.
ACM Major said this would not only restore the IAF's offensive capability to some 39 squadrons - up from around 30-32 at present - but also significantly boost its firepower, agility and operational envelope.
"MRCA flight and laboratory evaluations at home and abroad will begin by April 2009 and take about a year to conclude," ACM Major confirmed, adding that in all likelihood each of the six competing platforms would be assessed as they were all "kingpins". Thereafter, protracted price negotiations would begin.
Under the terms of purchase, the first 18 MRCAs would be acquired in a 'fly-away' condition with the remaining 108 built indigenously under licence. The selected vendor would also be required to undertake an offset obligation of 50 per cent - up from the mandatory 30 per cent - of the contact value.
"The MRCA offset option offers India's aerospace industry a godsend opportunity to grow substantially," said ACM Major. He remains a supporter of increased private-sector participation in India's state-dominated military-industrial complex.
