Following the border confrontation with China, India's defence ministry last week approved several capital procurement projects worth £3.89 billion. They include 33 new fighter jets, 300 long-range land attack cruise missiles and 250 air-to-air missiles.
The projects will take at least two to three years, if not more, to translate into actual inductions into the armed forces but they signal the government’s renewed thrust on building military capabilities for the two active borders with China and Pakistan despite budgetary constraints.
The defence acquisitions council (DAC), chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh, approved procurement of 21 more MiG-29s and 12 Sukhoi-30 MKIs from Russia. The 21 MiG-29s, along with a further upgrade of 59 such jets already with the IAF to “ensure similar standards across the fleet”, will cost £741.8 million.
IAF can induct 250 Astra missiles to arm its Sukhoi fighters from next year
The 12 additional Sukhois will be licensed produced by defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics, along with upgraded electronic warfare suites and additional supplies and spares for the fleet, at a cost of
£1.07 billion.
Among the projects approved by the DAC, induction of the Astra beyond visual range air-to-air missiles will probably be the fastest. With all its development trials over, the IAF can begin to induct the 250 Astra missiles to arm its Sukhoi fighters from next year onwards. The DRDO is also working to increase Astra’s strike range from the existing 110 km to over 160 km.
Another big takeaway from the DAC was the approval for eventual induction of over 300 land-attack cruise missiles with a strike range of over 1,000 km. But it will take two to three years for development trials of this advanced version of the Nirbhay (fearless) missile, which was first successfully tested in 2017, to be completed, sources said.
This new cruise missile, designed to fly at low altitudes to evade enemy radars and missile defence systems, will be the longest range conventional missile in the armed forces’ arsenal. The existing precision-strike BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles have a range of 300 km, which is now being extended to around 500 km.
“Astra, software-defined radio, Pinaka munitions and the land-attack cruise missiles are state-of-the-art systems developed indigenously by us,” DRDO chief Dr G Satheesh Reddy said. It was reported that the procurement of 33 additional fighters - the 21 MiG-29 airframes are lying in a mothballed condition in Russia - was being finalised by the IAF. The force has so far inducted over 250 Sukhois of the 272 originally contracted from Russia for well over $12 billion, with the bulk of them rolling out of HAL facilities.
Both MiG-29s and Sukhois are currently deployed at forward airbases along the Line of Actual Control due to the ongoing military face-off with China. The progressive induction of 36 French Rafales from next month onwards will be a tremendous operational boost for the IAF, which is grappling with just 30 squadrons (each has16 to18 jets) when at least 42 are required to handle the collusive China-Pakistan threat.
