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| Indian designed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) |
By Franz-Stefan Gady
New Delhi faces a critical shortage of both planes and pilots a parliamentary panel revealed this week.
This week, a parliamentary committee attacked the Indian Ministry of Defense (MOD) over the poor state of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in comparison to its Chinese and Pakistani counterparts. The committee’s concern? New Delhi faces a critical shortage of both planes and pilots (for additional background see: “Indian Air Force Still Plagued by Poor Procurement Process”).
The report of the Indian government’s 35-member Standing Committee on Defence noted that “even the slight edge over rival neighboring nations” would be lost if “complacency” remains. The Indian officials particularly lamented that the number of current active fighter squadrons (35) is seven below the sanctioned strength of 42.
However, the number of squadrons may even further decline over the next seven years. “With regard to this, representatives of air force deposed before the committee that a drawdown has already begun and, by 2022, air force will have around just 25 squadrons, thereby losing even the slight edge over rival neighboring nation,” the panel’s report emphasized.
Read the full story at The Diplomat