The nation’s defence comes first and foremost,” Air Marshal A P Singh said.
“If IAF or Indian forces have to ride on this aatmanirbharta, it is only possible if everyone – DRDO, defence PSUs and private industry takes us to that path and does not let us deviate from that path,” he said. This comes at a time when there has been a delay in the delivery timeframe of the 83 Tejas Mark-1A jets contracted from defence PSU HAL under the Rs 46,898 crore contract in Feb 2021.
The first “improved” Tejas was to be delivered to IAF by March 31 this year, with all the 83 fighters by Feb 2028. But it’s expected to take at least a month more for the first jet to be ready, and HAL is unlikely to deliver the first 16 in the 2024-25 fiscal as promised. This when IAF is making do with just 30 fighter squadrons when 42 are “sanctioned” to deal with the threat posed by China and Pakistan.
“The rate at which our adversaries are building their numbers while imbibing new technologies, the capability gap is continuously growing. I exhort DRDO, defence PSUs and the private industry to focus on innovative technologies, out of the box solutions, and increase capability as well as capacity,” the IAF vice chief said.
Referring to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and other conflicts, Air Marshal Singh said, “If geopolitics has a lesson – it is to be self-reliant. Atmanirbhar Bharat should not just be a buzzword – it should be our overriding concern and pursued holistically in letter and spirit.”