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The race for fighters: the IAF’s dilemma
Chinese ground crew members inspect a J-20 stealth fighter in Chengdu, in southwest China’s Sichuan province in 2011. | Photo Credit: AP
Dr.G.R.Balakrishnan Jan 03 2025 Logistics News (Airlines & Aviation)

The race for fighters: the IAF’s dilemma

In the last two weeks, taking the world by surprise, China unveiled a series of high technology platforms establishing its technological supremacy. These include two stealth fighter jets, the launch of an amphibious naval ship, a new “comprehensive” scientific research ship for global deep-sea exploration, a supersonic civil jet prototype and a new bullet train dubbed the world’s fastest. The timing couldn’t have been starker, highlighting the widening technological gap with the Indian Air Force (IAF) which is struggling to maintain its fighter squadron strength as modernisation is plagued by delayed deliveries.

Last week, videos emerged on social media of two stealth fighter jets in tail-less configuration. One of them a massive jet with delta-wing design, featuring three engines hinting at a likely long range, flying over Chengdu in Sichuan province went viral on social media ‘X’. Videos of the second smaller jet featuring a smaller twin-engine design with swept wings emerged a day later. Reports suggest that the larger jet was designed by Chengdu Aircraft Corporation while the smaller jet is from the rival Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. However, there has been no official comments from China or from their state media so far on the developments.

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) of China has already fielded two fifth generation fighter jets, the medium J-35 and the heavy J-20, becoming the only country other than the U.S. to have more than one fifth gen fighter. With the two new jets, dubbed by many commentators as sixth gen-fighters which is debatable, China has, undoubtedly, taken giant strides in the race.

The IAF is at 31 fighter squadrons as against the sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons, desperately awaiting new inductions and with no fifth gen fighter in the line-up for at least a decade, the only outlier among major countries. Recent reports state that Pakistan has approved the procurement of 40 J-35s from China.

In an uncanny coincidence, very recently the Defence Ministry has appointed a committee led by the Defence Secretary to look into the overall capability development of the IAF...The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is working on the indigenous development of LCA-Mk2 aircraft and the AMCA, the Defence Ministry informed the Parliamentary standing committee on defence as per a report tabled earlier this month. “The deliveries for LCA-Mk2 and AMCA are expected to commence only into the next decade once the development cycle is successfully completed.”

As reported by The Hindu recently, in the backdrop of the controversy in the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets, the government is looking at a procurement model that is transparent and non-controversial for the MRFA. Underscoring this urgency, IAF Air Chief Marshal A. P. Singh said in October that the MRFA was “needed as of yesterday”. The larger and more capable LCA-MK2 is under development and is supposed to do its first flight this October, with December 2027 to be the end of research and development for LCA-Mk2. “If these timelines are met and the MRFA is signed parallelly we are OK. We are not badly off. But if these timelines are pushed, then we need to look at alternatives,” the Air Chief had stated. In October 2022, then IAF chief ACM V. R. Chaudhari conceded that even with the LCA-Mk1A, LCA-Mk2 and the MRFA “we will still be at 35-36 (squadrons) by middle of next decade.” It is pertinent to note that, barring the AMCA which will take sometime the LCA variants and the MRFA are all four gen plus fighters. On the delay in the LCA-MK1A, a representative of the Ministry informed the House Panel that it “worries all of us”.  An aero-engine is likely to remain the single major dependency and the country’s Achilles heel for a very long time....The country can’t claim to be fully self-reliant till it can field an aero-engine that is completely designed and developed in-house.