Rafale not enough for force's needs: IAF Chief

February 28, 2020 20:27

Soon to be inducted into the Indian Air Force, the 36 Rafale jets will not be sufficient to take care of the force's requirements, IAF chief RKS Bhadauria said on Friday, highlighting the need to focus on developing indigenous platforms across the spectrum to have an edge.

Speaking at a seminar on 'air power in no war no peace scenario' that was organised by the Centre for Air Power Studies, Bhadauria said the use of the Air Force in the sub-conventional domain was considered a "taboo" in the past and the Balakot air strike was a "paradigm shift" in that.

Stressing on the need to develop indigenous weapons, Bhadauria said it would be a "game changer" if in the next air skirmish, the weapons and missiles used by the Air Force are indigenously built.

"The 36 Rafale jets will alone not provide us solution for the IAF's need. We need to be able to use the indigenous Astra missile on the Su30s and across other fighter aircraft like the MiG-29 for better performance of air power," he said.

He, however, said the induction of the 36 Rafale jets that are armed with Meteor missiles will boost India's air capabilities.

"But there needs to be more solutions. We cannot just depend on Meteor class in the Rafale jets to sort out IAF's requirements. It's important that this capability on Rafale is complimented with similar capabilities on other platforms and we have taken lot of action towards that," he said.

The air chief also said that while India had an edge over Pakistan in terms of Beyond Visual Range Missile capability at the time of Kargil, "we allowed that to slip".

"We had an edge over Pakistan Air Force in terms of Beyond Visual Range Missile capability at the time of Kargil. We allowed that to slip and thereafter it took a decade and half in our struggle to acquisition process to be able to get better capability," the Air Force chief said in his speech.

This would soon materialise with the induction of the Rafale jets, he said.

"In air engagement, especially in a deeply contested area, it is important to have a weapon's edge. Once we retain this edge, it is important that we don't allow to slip back this edge," he added.

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