Indian Air Force’s Push to Manufacture Aero Engines and Fighter Aircraft
While India’s military leadership claims it is ready to defend itself against likely threats, a close look at its battle-readiness reveals multiple capability gaps that need to be filled. This four-part series starts with an analysis of the contemporary battlefield and the advent of autonomous weaponry.
While the first part examined the military’s leadership and combat restructuring, the subsequent three sections examine a crucial aspect of the army, navy, and air force. Part two of the series focused on the army and covered its artillery and rocket systems, while Part three examined the navy’s underwater capabilities, mine detection, and mine-sweeping. This article, the final piece in this series, will look at the air force’s push to develop and manufacture aero engines and indigenous fighter aircraft.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has placed purchase orders for only 40 Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) since the Indian fighter’s inaugural flight in 2001. Now the defense aircraft establishment in Bengaluru is scurrying to design and manufacture many more indigenous fighter variants to replace the Russian-origin MiG-21s that have been the IAF’s backbone for decades.
India’s defense planners have long grappled with the question: How large should the IAF’s combat aircraft fleet be? Most experts acknowledge that the IAF needs about 42 combat squadrons, which add up to about 900 fighters, bombers, electronic warfare, and command and control aircraft.
On the ground, however, the IAF operates with a shortfall of 10-12 combat squadrons, or a deficiency of about 220-250 aircraft. This shortfall stems, to a significant degree, from its unacceptably high accident rate, which has eroded its bank of combat aircraft and left it short of skilled pilots.
The IAF’s accident figures for the 70 years from 1952 to 2021 have been extensively analyzed. This period can be divided into seven decades. During these decades, the IAF has lost 2,374 aircraft to crashes, including 1,126 fighters and 1,248 non-combat aircraft. In addition, 229 trainers and 196 helicopters have crashed. These crashes have resulted in the deaths of 1,305 skilled pilots, each of whom had cost the government several billion rupees. The number of combat aircraft lost exceeds 50 squadrons.
In an article published in Business Standard in 2023, which I coauthored with Devesh Kapur, we wrote: “Some of these aircraft and pilots were lost in action in India’s wars against Pakistan in 1947-48, 1965, and 1971; and to a smaller extent in the Kargil conflict in 1999. In the 1962 war, for reasons still debated, the IAF did not conduct combat operations. In the 1965 war, it lost 59 aircraft on the ground, many during pre-emptive strikes by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in Pathankot and Kalaikunda, in what turned out to be a deplorable failure of Indian intelligence and preparedness. The IAF’s own history of its operations in the 1965 war acknowledges it ‘suffered disproportionately higher losses’ than the PAF. A mitigating factor in 1965 was that the IAF was flying vintage aircraft while the PAF had the most advanced U.S. fighters in Asia. With greater experience, the IAF did much better in the 1971 war.”
The Tejas Solution
Once the current orders are delivered, the IAF will be operating 220 Tejas fighters in combat squadrons and on order with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). That adds up to 10-11 squadrons, which, although insufficient to meet the IAF’s assessed requirement of 42 squadrons, will go a long way towards filling the squadrons left empty by the retired MiG-21s.
Since the Tejas LCA’s first flight in 2001, it has undergone an extensive flight-testing program and capability upgrade to the Mark 1A and Mark 2 versions. The Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has placed great reliance on the indigenous Tejas Mark 1A by ordering 180 of these fighters for the IAF. With production of the Tejas Mark 1A starting in 2024-25, and 16 fighters being delivered every year, the IAF’s first order for 83 fighters is likely to be completed by the end of 2028-29.
With Tejas Mark 1A production ramping up as projected to an annual output of 24 fighters per year, the IAF’s second order for 97 fighters would be delivered by 2035-36.
Indigenous Fighter Variants
Meanwhile, production of the 5th-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), overseen by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), would have begun by 2033-34. Within four years, i.e., by 2035-36, the IAF’s planned fleet of 96 AMCAs would be in operational service in the IAF.
That would provide the IAF with an indigenous fleet of 454 combat aircraft: 96 AMCAs, 138 Tejas Mark 2s, 180 Tejas Mark 1As and 40 Tejas Mark 1 fighters. In addition, the MoD anticipates an indeterminate number of foreign sales, which further swell this list.
The first 40 Tejas fighters essentially performed the jobs of test flying and pilot familiarization. Many of the munitions and sensors that will become part of the Tejas weapons package have been integrated into the aircraft and the airborne command and control systems that the Tejas will carry. However, there is still a deficit in the Tejas’ aircraft combat power, and the IAF has sought to make up for that by adding on several indigenous weapons that are intended to make the Tejas Mark 1A an altogether more potent package.
Learning the Ropes on the Tejas
With the new indigenous avionics and weapons systems integrated onto the Tejas Mark 1A, India’s combat aviation establishment in Bengaluru celebrated February 3, 2021, when the MoD handed HAL its first major contract for 83 Tejas Mark 1As – as a landmark in the Tejas’ developmental history.
The contract had been cleared earlier, on January 13, 2021, when the Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the procurement of 73 Tejas Mark 1A fighter aircraft and 10 Tejas Mark 1 twin-seat trainer aircraft for a combined cost of 456.96 billion Indian rupees (Rs) (1 Indian rupee = 0.011 USD). Also cleared that day was a design, development and infrastructure sanction worth Rs 12.02 billion, taking the total contract value to almost Rs 480 billion.
The Mark 1A variant of the LCA is an indigenously designed, developed and manufactured state-of-the-art, 4+ generation fighter aircraft. This aircraft is equipped with critical operational capabilities, including an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, a beyond-visual-range (BVR) missile, an electronic warfare (EW) suite, and air-to-air refueling (AAR). The IAF believes it would be a potent platform to meet the IAF’s operational requirements.
The Tejas Mark 1A would be the first “Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)” or IDDM category procurement of combat aircraft with an indigenous content of 50 percent, which will progressively reach 60 percent by the end of the program. By then, 250 out of 344 systems fitted in the aircraft are expected to be indigenous.
Controversial Pricing Formula
During price negotiations, the MoD announced that the Union Cabinet had cleared the building of 83 Tejas Mark 1A fighters by HAL for Rs 45,6.96 billion. This translated into a daunting per-unit price of Rs 5.5 billion.
However, senior government sources say that each Tejas Mark 1A will cost no more than Rs 3.15 billion to build, with the total manufacturing cost adding up to Rs 261.45 billion.
The balance of the Cabinet clearance includes tax, and maintenance and support infrastructure in the two operational air bases that will be home to the four squadrons of the Tejas Mark 1A.
Of the Cabinet’s total allocation, government taxes and levies constitute about 20 percent, or about Rs 90 billion. Effectively, the Ministry of Finance will be appropriating a large chunk of the defense budget through taxing an indigenous weapons platform.
In major arms manufacturing countries, such as the U.S., defense equipment and weaponry are exempt from excise and sales tax.
True, taxation of defense equipment merely amounts to money going from one government pocket to another. However, it would have serious implications when it comes to the export of the Tejas Mark 1A. The government has emphasized the need for promoting exports, which would reduce the fighter’s cost through manufacturing in larger numbers.
At Rs 3.15 billion per fighter, the Tejas Mark 1A would be a viable competitor in the international market for light fighters. It would be less so if taxes raise their cost to Rs 3.78 billion. Competitors, such as the Sino-Pakistan JF-17 Thunder, are cheaper. However, the Tejas Mark 1A outperforms them in avionics and weaponry.
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