Did IAF mislead Supreme Court on Rafale deal?

November 15, 2018 16:06

'At a day-long hearing of the case in the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi surprised everyone by seeking the views of the Indian Air Force on the finer aspects of the deal... However, what serving IAF officers submitted in the apex court has given rise to fresh controversy,' writes Mohan Guruswamy in Asian Times.

He adds: 'When Gogoi asked when the last induction of advanced fighter jets was, Air Vice-Marshal T Chalapati said these were in the 1980s in the shape of Mirage aircraft. Gogoi said: "That means from 1980s till date there have been zero additions".'

This is sheer hogwash, says Guruswamy. For, 'the IAF has inducted Su-30MKIs from the mid-1990s onward and has more than 270 of these fighters. The more recent deliveries have electronics comparable to the current state of the art. The aircraft may be classified as 3.5 generation, but that is because it was designed in that time period. To impute that the same plane made in 2010 is limited to that period's capability is also rubbish,' Guruswamy writes, here.

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