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.