A tricky decision

K Srinivasan

JAIDEV Jamwal, who covers the Indian defence forces with great felicity, put out a post after Operation Sindoor: “Whoever is advocating IAF purchasing F-35 even after issues with GE engines and Apaches, should be tied to a lamppost and beaten with chappals.”

Now, what Jamwal said can be divided into two parts. One part of it was, of course, anger at the manner in which US President Donald Trump has tried to upstage what is essentially a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan and making it as if he had averted a nuclear conflagration. A Pakistani in Washington, Sajid Tarar (who, till the beginning of the war, was a Narendra Modi fanboy but quickly turned virulent and had his social media blocked in India) made the hilarious prediction that “Donald Trump was inches away from getting the Nobel Prize”.

Sukhoi chatter

The other part is the sudden chatter both in the media and social media on why India must quickly go in for the Sukhoi-57 (Su-57). Believe it or not, Russian state-owned rt.com has been ballistic on the alleged loss of Rafale aircraft during the recent four-day Operation Sindoor. In one tweet, RT suggested that Indonesia may scrap $8.1-billion deal after combat performance doubts. It said that “Indonesia is reportedly reviewing its purchase of 42. French-made Rafale jets following unverified claims about the fighters’ effectiveness in recent India-Pakistan clashes.”’ Later, RT clarified that the post was a wake-up, but make no mistake, the Russians, too, are happy to take a swipe at the Rafale as long as it brings attention to the Su-57.

No decision yet

The fact of the matter is that India has made no decision on what aircraft it will plump for although Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh couldn’t have been more candid when he told the media last month that there was no truth to the F-35 chatter. Quoting him, the Eurasian Times said: “The IAF boss, an ardent proponent of bolstering India’s air power, stressed that buying a fighter jet was not akin to ‘buying a washing machine or refrigerator’, suggesting that there is a due process that needs to be followed. We have not looked at it [F-35].”

The only jets on order at the moment are the Rafale. The country will acquire 26 Rafale-M fighter jets from France under a deal finalised last month. These jets, primarily intended for the Indian Navy, will be deployed on the INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya aircraft carriers. The first Rafale-M jet is expected to be delivered in mid-2028, with all 26 jets arriving by 2030. The deal also includes weapons, simulators, spares, training, and full logistical support.

But the woes with regard to India’s woefully inadequate number of squadrons continues even as the Air Force expresses its dissatisfaction with the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Just before the start of Aero India in February this year, Singh had said: “You have to alleviate (our) worries and make us more confident. At the moment, I am just not confident of HAL, which is a very wrong thing to happen. This is our own company. Many of us, including myself, have served here… but I feel we are not operating with urgency. The attitude seems to be, ‘it will happen.’”

He was talking about Tejas and the sloppy manner in which the production and deliveries of the aircraft have been handled by HAL.

Singh’s comments went viral, and he later clarified the background to that conversation, saying it was a “friendly talk” with people with whom he had trained together. “My intention was to get to their conscience, but the way it came out was not right,” he was quoted in the media.

Nonetheless, whether public or private, the fact of the matter is that India will soon have to decide how it is going to increase its fleet strength. Will it be more Rafales for the moment, or, looking at other options, we should know in the next few months.

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