Is that accepting what happened last year and knowing that IAF lacks the skills to take us on in a traditional dog fight?
From a pure tactical pov that requires pinpointing those locations first and having your pilots well versed with the capabilities and range of the machine which requires time half a decade is the bare minimum and during that time China would not be sitting ideally. The balance of power has shifted and it would be balanced again.
The Rafale aircraft will give India a strategic advantage in case of any aerial combat with China in the mountainous Tibet region as the fleet will be able to use the terrain to its advantage, destroy enemy air defence and incapacitate the surface-to-air missiles, former Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal (retd) B S Dhanoa said on Sunday.
India has been the aggressor and the procurement is an aggressive stance as well. The Rafael system
has not been tested against a robust air force. Its only experience is in the Iraqi and Agfhani theater as of yet. Moreover, like I pointed out before; the other side is not going to sit ideally by. It will require a re-orientation as well: from a very simple POV introducing intruders into flight support is the simplest answer. The same tactics were deployed very successfully by the Vietnamese and Israeli air forces during their respective engagements. This isn't a new introduction to the equation.
Dhanoa, known as the architect of the Balakot strikes, said the Rafale jets along with S-400 missile systems will give the Indian Air Force a major combat edge in the entire region and that India’s adversaries will think twice before starting a war with it.
Let me explain something here: it's quite easy to do so for Pakistan as well because many targets can be reached in well within the AD systems shield. However, that's not easily done because the same air space is being traversed by international civilian air crafts as well the air space of Indo-Pak theatre is well traversed and making such a move is going to be highly risky for India. Other than that the South and Centre of Pakistan provide the best arena for such an event but over there we also have an edge because of our forward bases and like I said intruders.
In case of Pakistan, he said the purpose of the S-400 and Rafale is to hit Pakistani aircraft inside Pakistani air space and not when they come inside Indian territory, adding the neighbouring country would not have responded on February 27 last year to the Balakot air strikes if India had the French-manufactured jets then.
The PLAAF is being referred to here and it'd be highly dismissive of IAF to consider that the Chinese won't be introducing stealth borne early warning systems and regular patrolling to the area to counter such a move. This is something a cadet studies in like their first year.
In an interview to PTI, Dhanoa said the Rafale, with its fantastic electronic warfare suite and maneuverability, will be able use mountainous terrain in Tibet to its advantage and blind the enemy before India’s strike aircraft penetrate hostile airspace to carry out their missions.
I would like to see some proof of that. It seems like a counterproductive move because Dessault wants to sell its program against the Russian, American and Chinese counterparts therefore; the best possible scenario is that they've provided with maxed out versions of the aircraft. Giving something experimental to a client which can fail on the field would not help them because it'd offset their market value.
The former Chief of Air Staff also said that the Rafales being supplied to the IAF are much more advanced than the ones being used by the French Air Force as India had asked for something “more” due to requirement to operate in unique conditions like operations from Leh.
Sure.
Five Rafale jets out of 36 arrived India last week at a time India is in the midst of a bitter border row with China in the high altitude eastern Ladakh region.
Air and naval warfare are some of the most comm heavy activities that can be engaged in. It's not just that simple. If A-G comms are stopped then that too tilts the base of ops. Complete air borune ops are something that no asian power is capable of as of yet. Therefore, it remains to be seen if they'd expand on this with a completely air borne capabilities to hold a forward air op; this can be used much better with point relays in the naval theatre as the Rafael sys has been used in that arena and India has carieers but then that's completely different from the IAF.
“Rafale has got a fantastic Electronic Warfare (EW) suite (SPECTRA), fantastic weapons and therefore are capable of protecting themselves electronically besides being able to use the terrain to their advantage,” Dhanoa said.
Answered.
“So they (Rafales) can play an important role in doing DEAD (Destruction of Enemy Air Defence) on the Surface-to-Air Missiles that the Chinese have put on Tibet.
Hope I don't have to repeat.
“Once you take out those surface to air missiles, then other aircraft like Su30, Jaguars, even Mig 21s can go out and drop the bombs on the Chinese forces. The strike aircraft carrying bombs can put tonnes and tonnes of bombs on the enemy troops, freely carrying out their mission. But if you do not do DEAD then you will suffer a lot of casualties,” he said.
True. This is where the future dev is going to take now in the south asian perspective and perhaps all of asia.
The leading air forces globally carry out Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD) or DEAD using their top of the line aircraft or weapons before launching any major operation in hostile territories.
Let's stick to the professional engagement here. I won't respond to this as this is political rather than mil.
As the Chief of Air Staff, Dhanoa had strongly defended the Rafale deal when the opposition parties ramped up attack on the government alleging massive irregularities in the procurement. The top IAF brass led by Dhanoa played a key role in implementation of the mega deal.
There are units trained specifically for such theatres. The Soviets learnt that the hard way.
“Against China there are big Himalayan mountains in between us which create serious line of sight issues. You can put a missile with a range of 300-400 kms on the ground in Tibet or in India. But it will only work within the line of sight,” he said.
Like I said the balance has been shifted but not completely tilted.
He said the Rafales, with terrain following capability, will give India a major capability enhancement.
Made this point before too. It'll require some time for the entirety of the IAF to train and incorporate the system, practice, work out kinks, develop doctrines and execute them. During that time the other side would be doing the same to counter them.
“In air combat, the first thing that is important is information dominance, you get information and deny the enemy the information. The key role the Rafales will play in Tibet is information dominance and in case of Pakistan, it is a major deterrent. Of course there will be other roles too,” he said.
Their main aim wasn't to challenge them. Now when that's the focus something similar would come up sooner or later.
Asked about the comparison between the Rafales and J-20 fighter jets of China, he said the Chinese aircraft is not stealthy and presently, with its current engines, cannot supercruise unlike the newly-acquired Indian fleet.
Same point as before.
In a beyond visual range (BVR) combat, he said Indian missiles are far superior than theirs. The French avionics on board the Rafale are “far superior” than the Chinese systems in J-20s, he said.
“Hence in a BVR environment the Rafales are superior to the J-20s,” he added.
*Chance of
“With the induction of the Rafales we will have a tremendous jump in capability. That’s why I called both (Rafale and S 400) of them game changers. Both these platforms will give the IAF a tremendous capability jump. The Rafale in the air and S-400 on the ground.
The impact of going for French rather than Russian systems is going to have an interesting sift.
In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal to buy the S-400 air defence missile systems from Russia to bolster the IAF’s air defence mechanism.
*ONCE DETECTED.
The ‘Triumf’ interceptor-based missile system can destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. The delivery of the missile systems is scheduled to begin next year.
He seems to contradict himself, either the reporter mixed it up or the former chief is getting mixed up.
“Both S-400 and Rafales are critical game changers. Rafale is a deterrent. The purpose of deterrence is not to fight a war. Purpose of deterrence is to make the other person think twice before he starts a war or a skirmish with you,” he said.
Nope. We'd have still responded.
He said the Pakistanis would not have responded on February 27 last year to India’s Balakot strikes if India had the Rafale jets.
They had their orders; this wasn't a choice.
In this context, he also mentioned an operation by the IAF to drop bombs on a Pakistani post along the LoC in Kel sector in 2002, and how Pakistani Air Force never dared to respond to it.
The engagement hadn't been planned with the privy of PAF and the overall leadership wanted to deescalate the situation.
“On August 2, 2002, we did bombing of a Pakistani post as the Pakistanis had intruded about 600-700 metres inside the LoC in our area and set up a post. We bombed with four Mirage 2000s and after that the Pakistanis never came back,” Dhanoa said.
Mixing tactics with strategy. Previous answers.
“The Pakistanis never ever dreamt of bombing an Indian post in retaliation because we had Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles on Mirage 2000, MiG 29 and the Su-30 Ks and they did not have any BVR missiles on any of their fighters,” he recalled.
The same man who planned Kargil made sure the three services would always be on page. TIME.
“They just kept quiet about it and just didn’t acknowledge that something had happened and later on played it low key when the news did break in the international media! That is what is called deterrence,” he added.
OK.
Asked whether India should consider procuring two more squadrons of Rafales as it makes operational sense, Dhanoa called it a good idea and said that it will be the “cheapest option” of getting a 4.5 generation fighter into the air force.
Housing and running sqns are two different things. There was much clamour about IAF/IA esp needing an overhaul in their supply chain management and capabilities.
“We already have infrastructure for two squadrons. We do not need additional infrastructure for the next two squadrons. They will come, in my assessment, at 60 to 70 per cent of the cost of the current ones,” he said.
Depends on the overall doctrine India wants to pursue. Early engagement can go either way.
“The cost of research and development for all India-specific enhancements have already been covered. The next two squadrons of Rafales will be the cheapest option of getting a 4.5 generation fighter into the air force,” he added.
OK.
Dhanoa, who retired as the IAF Chief on September 30 last year, said having two more squadrons of Rafales will give the force a lot of strength.
Let the field decide that, sir.
“If you have 72-80 aircraft, it will match whatever F-16s the Pakistanis have got. It will be good for deterrence,” he said adding it will make economic sense.
Of course. Hope he's happy.
Dhanoa also thanked all the people who stood by the Rafale deal, including the defence minister, the civil servants, the then defence secretary, the director general (acquisition) and many others in the government.
Will answer this separately.
“You have to give them full marks, because they stood by it despite many apprehensions. Normally everybody gets scared that this deal may be termed later as a scam and they may be hauled up by the investigation agencies after their retirement, or some other roving inquiry that may happen which may implicate them in the future. These people stood by it; we signed and executed the deal,” he said.
This too.
Dhanoa said the political leadership also stood their ground and did not dump the deal.
Same as above.
“They were going into an election. You could have always opted for a soft option of setting up a committee. Everybody stood their ground. The national leadership, the bureaucracy. That is why you have the aircraft,” he added.
Hope they're happy.
Dhanoa also expressed happiness that the first squadron of Rafales will be part of the Number 17 Squadron, also known as ‘Golden Arrows’, based in Ambala.
Good to know.
“I am very happy...I was the last Commodore Commandant of 17 squadron. It got number plated in March 2012. It stopped flying in December 2011. Having celebrated our Diamond Jubilee in October 2011. Last year the Squadron has been resurrected and this year aircraft have finally come to the Squadron,” he said.
Till we meet again, Golden Arrows. Cheers.
“Golden Arrows have a very rich tradition. The Squadron has fought in all the wars. It participated in the Liberation of Goa, 1965 war, 1971 war, and it fought in Kargil,” he added.
OK.
Dhanoa commanded the squadron during the Kargil war.
The game is on, sir.
“In case, there is fighting in Eastern Ladakh, we will not miss it,” the Air Chief Marshal (Retd.) said in a lighter vein.
