New Delhi: At a time when the focus of the Government is entirely on Aatmnirbharta, and that particularly in defence, the statement made by Indian Air Force Vice Chief Air Marshal AP Singh has made the limelight.
Addressing Indian Air Force official on Friday said Atma-nirbharta (self reliance) can not come at the cost of national defence as the capability gap between India and her adversaries are growing continuously.
“Atma Nirbharta can’t be achieved at the cost of our national security. The rate at which our adversaries are building their numbers while imbibing new technologies, the capability gap is continuously growing,” Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal AP Singh said.
He said, nation’s defence comes first and foremost and if Indian Air Force or Indian forces have to ride on this atma-nirbharta, it is only possible if everyone, from Defence Research and Defence Organisation to defence public sector units and the private industry.
The critical comments from the IAF Vice Chief comes at a time when the force is operating only 32 squadrons of fighter jets instead of its sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons.
Each squadron has an average 18 aircraft, which means the IAF has 558 fighters, 198 short of the required 756.
The squadron strength is set to go down further in a year’s time with the retirement of the last two MiG-21BIS squadrons, but there is no sign of the delivery of the first home made Tejas LCA Mk-1A on the horizon.
Around 65 to 70 per cent of the IAF’s fighter aircraft are Russian, and most of them either need urgent upgrades or are on the verge of retirement. Having foreign aircraft also means staying dependent on other countries for parts and components.
The IAF last month flagged to HAL its concern at the slow pace of the Tejas programme, saying a delayed induction could affect the force’s combat-effectiveness and urging timely execution of the Rs 48,000-crore contract for 83 Tejas jets.
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