IAF Chief A.P. Singh: Urgent Need to Catch Up with China's Air Power and Technology

He said the delivery of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk-1A fighter aircraft by Hindustan Aeronautics has been delayed and private players need to be roped in. Air Chief Marshal Singh said that it was crucial that the strength of the Indian Air Force fighter squadrons does not go below 30 and aircraft which are being retired must be simultaneously replaced with new ones.

He said that HAL had promised the Indian Air Force that it will increase its production rate to 24 aircraft per year and it needs to keep that promise. “If that promise is kept, I think delays can be caught up with. Yes, the first aim is not to let our aircraft strength to go down,” Air Chief Marshal Singh said during the annual press conference before Air Force Day on October 8.

The statement comes at a time when the IAF fighter squadrons strength is dwindling and has come down to 30, with two more MiG-21 squadrons set to be retired in 2025. The IAF has placed an order with HAL for 83 Tejas Mark-1A aircraft. The deliveries were due to begin in March. However, not a single aircraft has been delivered yet.

Air Chief Marshal Singh said that HAL has started its third production line in Nashik but it has yet to churn out any aircraft from that yet.

Air Chief Marshal Singh said that private players need to come in and we can’t continue to rely on only one agency. “HAL will also have its own limitations in terms of what it can do in that timeframe,” he said.

He said that the Indian Air Force was focusing on to be able to fight with whatever it has immediately.

On China, he said: “We have done our analysis. We don’t have a design to go offensive unnecessarily. Only when we are pushed will we be doing something. So, we have our plans in place. One place we can positively say we are training much better than them. We have exposure much better than them. Because we do come to know through our sources how they train, how many different air forces they interact with and how many do we interact with. So, I am very confident that as far as the human angle is concerned, as far as our people behind the machines are concerned, we are way ahead of them.” However, he said that as far as technology is concerned, “we may not be so good as of now”.

“We have lagged. We were better than them in technology too some time back. But we have lagged in that and we need to catch up with it. As far as production rates are concerned, we are way behind. We need to catch up with that. And that will happen over a period of time. It cannot happen overnight,” he said.

Air Chief Marshal Singh said India was matching up with China on rapid infrastructure development along the Line of Actual Control and was now constructing new airfields and increasing the capacity of existing airfields.

On the S-400 air defence system, he said that three regiments of S-400 missiles are in service. “Russia has promised to deliver the two remaining S-400 regiments next year,” he said.

He also emphasised the importance of having advanced air defence systems like Israel’s Iron Dome, as he highlighted the lessons learnt from the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict and how the IAF plans to adapt to ensure India's security in the coming years.