The birds have arrived! Five Rafale fighter jets land at Ambala airbase

The five jets, part of the 36 ordered from Dassault Aviation of France, arrived at a rousing welcome. They are the first step to building up the IAF strength to 42 fighter jet squadrons (16-18 jets in each). The IAF currently has 31 squadrons, including five with MiG-21s, which should have been ideally decommissioned by now.

Besides the Rafales and Tejas, the IAF will be looking for 230 other jets to make good the shortfall.

As an immediate measure, India has gone back to its long-standing military ally Russia to order an additional 33 fighter jets. These will include 21 MiG 29, adding to the existing fleet of 59 jets. The purchase and the upgrade of the existing fleet will cost Rs 7,418 crore ($1billion approx). In addition, New Delhi is buying 12 Sukhoi 30 MKI. India has a sanction from Russia for licensed production of 272 such jets. The additional 12 fighters will meet the immediate shortages and make up for those that have crashed over the past decade.

The IAF has expressed an interest to procure another 114 fighter jets under the “strategic partnership” model. In the race for this tender are the Lockheed Martin’s F-21, Boeing’s F/A-18IN, Eurofighter Typhoon, French Dassault’s Rafale, Swedish Saab’s Gripen and Russian MiG-35 and Sukhoi 35. But not much has moved on the procurement front.