In one of its reports submitted to the Parliament Wednesday, the committee noted that it is “of the considered opinion that Air Force should have two front deterrence capabilities which is of utmost priority, as the threat on both sides of Indian neighbourhood is a reality which cannot be ignored”. File Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence has expressed concern over the Air Force’s squadron strength, currently below the sanctioned limit of 42, and called for time-bound procurement to replenish it.
In one of its reports submitted to the Parliament Wednesday, the committee noted that it is “of the considered opinion that Air Force should have two front deterrence capabilities which is of utmost priority, as the threat on both sides of Indian neighbourhood is a reality which cannot be ignored”.
The panel said the current strength — of around 30 squadrons — will go down further as older fighter jets are phased out.
“…the representatives of the Air Force submitted that the present authorised strength of the squadron is 42. It was further stated that the total technical life of most of the existing squadron is expiring and consequently the squadron strength is progressively depleting,” it said.
The induction of the Light Combat Aircraft Mk-1 and Mk1A and the proposed induction of Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft “will be helpful”, the panel said but emphasised on “a time-bound procurement of these aircraft, so as to replenish the Air Force squadron”.
In its presentation to the committee, the Air Force had stated that the delay in creation of the LCA Tejas was one of the main causes of its depleting fighter jet strength.
An Air Force officer told the committee that the current fighter squadron strength, “for the roles that we have been given, for the rivals we have, to counter them, it is inadequate”.
An Air Force representative told the committee: “We will not be able to achieve the desired strength for the time but I think we are doing the best we can. The delay in productionisation of indigenous fighters has been the cause. Till 2024 before it starts coming, we are hopeful there will be few other [avenues] which can be explored.”
The representative also noted that “serviceability state… has been low, and “once we get that, the existing strength itself we can ramp up before the new aircraft come in. That is the best we are looking at for us as of now.”
Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar also informed that committee that in the last three to four years, “concerted efforts have been made by the Air
Force to ramp up its capability and to make up for the less squadron” and “this pace of acquisition was not there earlier.”
Apart from LCA and Rafale fighter jets, Kumar said, “We have ordered S-400; we have ordered UAVs. So, the composite effort to ramp up the air defence and the air capability in the last four to five years has been significant.”
Talking about Navy’s modernisation plans, the Defence Secretary told the committee that the force is focusing on three focus areas — unmanned aerial vehicles; unmanned underwater vehicles, which is a smaller submarine; and underwater domain awareness.
While the government is yet to approve the building of a second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-2) for the Navy, with IAC-1 likely to be commissioned this year, the IAC-2 features in the list of “planned acquisition” in 2022-2023 in the Navy’s list, along with 20 other platforms, including several unmanned platforms, both aerial and underwater.
For the Army, the committee noted that “there is relatively lesser spending for modernization activities of Army” but given the indigenisation thrust, it said, “utmost care should be taken and as far as possible modern weapon systems should be procured which are manufactured by Indian Companies.”
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