NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force (IAF)’s falling end strength combined with its troubled acquisition and development programmes, is threatening India’s air superiority over its rapidly modernising rivals China and Pakistan, an acclaimed scholar in Carnegie Endowment has cautioned.
Asserting that the Indian air dominance was vital for deterrence stability in southern Asia and for preserving the strategic balance in the wider Indo-Pacific region, Ashley J Tellis, a senior associate at Carnegie said, adding, “Resolving India’s air power crisis, therefore, should be a priority for New Delhi.”
Waring about crisis brewing in the IAF comes at time when India’s fighter force is said to be well short of its sanctioned squadron strength with many of IAF’s frontline aircraft facing obsolescence.
Mr Tellis has been closely following the equation of air power in the South Asian region. “China and Pakistan field about 750 advanced air defence/multirole fighters against the IAF’s 450-odd equivalents. The airfield infrastructure limitations in Tibet, however, prevent China from bringing all of its air capabilities to bear against India. Yet after 2025, China could be able to deploy anywhere between 300 and 400 sophisticated aircraft against India, in addition to the 100 to 200 advanced fighters likely to exist in Pakistan by then,” he said in a recently published paper.
The IAF’s desire for 42-45 squadrons by 2027 — some 750-800 aircraft — is compelling, if India is to preserve the airpower superiority it has enjoyed in southern Asia since 1971.(Agencies)
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