Parliament's Standing Committee on Defence has expressed concern over the fall in the number of squadrons of the country’s Air Force, which is much below the sanctioned limit of 42.
They have called for fresh and time-bound procurement of new fighter aircrafts, in a report which was tabled in the Parliament on Wednesday.
“During evidence, the representatives of the Air Force submitted that the present authorized strength of the squadron is 42. It was further stated that the total technical life of most of the existing squadron is expiring and consequently, the squadron strength is progressively depleting,” the report said.
The Committee said that the current strength of the Air Force, which is at 30, will further go down once the old jets are phased out.
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The committee has noted that time-bound induction of LCA Tejas MK-1A and MK-1 to replenish the depleting squadrons will be helpful.
The Committee has advised that there should not be any compromise in acquiring the “firepower and technology” to boost up the country's offensive and defensive aerial capacities.
The committee also noted that the Air Force must have “two-front” deterrence capacities given the threat of aggressive posture on both sides in the Indian neighborhood (hinting at China and Pakistan).
“(The squadron strength) for the roles that we have been given, for the rivals we have, to counter them, it is inadequate,” An Air Force officer informed the committee.
Another Air Force representative has informed that slow indigenous manufacturing “has been the cause” for not achieving the required strength and the Force is hopeful that another course of action can be adopted to fill up the squadrons till the indigenous planes start getting delivered by 2024.
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“… serviceability state… has been low… once we get that, the existing strength itself we can ramp up before the new aircraft come in. That is the best we are looking at for us as of now,” the representative further informed.
Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar has assured the committee that the Indian Air Force has increased the efforts to acquire the required number of squadrons at a speed which “was not there earlier”.
The squadron strength will increase once the IAF starts inducting the LCA Tejas Mark-1A and Mark-1 over the next 6-8 years.
Last year in February, the Union Cabinet headed by PM Modi gave a green signal to the IAF’s 83 LCA-MK-1A order worth ₹48000 crores which was awarded to HAL.
Prior to the clearance, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had inaugurated LCA’s second plant in Bengaluru. This move has been seen as a major fillip to the government’s objective to produce cutting-edge indigenous defence technology in a mission towards self-reliance.
The committee has also pointed out that India’s spending on Research and Development (R&D) has come down to 0.083 percent of the GDP in 2020-21 from 0.088 percent in 2017-17.
