IAF to acquire 450 fighter aircraft in future, says Air Force Chief RKS Bhadauria

In the future, the Indian Air Force is getting to acquire 450 fighter for deployment on the northern and western frontiers of the country, Air Force Chief RKS Bhadauria said on Monday. The list of aircraft planned to be inducted by the Air Force include 36 Rafales, 114 Multirole fighter , 100 Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) and over 200 variants of the sunshine Combat Aircraft. "In subsequent 15 years, 83 LCAs are our primary focus, then LCA Mark 2 will are available we are watching on the brink of 100 of these , that creates it near 200 of LCA class," Bhadauria told ANI in an interview. "AMCA, we are watching six squadrons, in order that puts it on the brink of 100 (aircraft). So, within the indigenous domain areas which are already frozen in terms of our requirement, in terms of our understanding with DRDO within the fighter (segment)," said the Air Force Chief. He added that the induction of those fighters would happen over a period of subsequent 35 years because the inductions need to be planned to stay in mind the longer term requirements. The Air Force Chief said: "In the trainer aircraft segment, we are watching 70 HTT-40 as a support aircraft to the Pilatus fleet. So, we are watching 370 odd indigenous aircraft." The IAF chief said that currently it had been the simplest time from the purpose of view for indigenous production and said, "It is now the right time for industries to reply and are available up with solutions which are rapidly put in situ and are available up to the challenge of delivering these aircraft." On plans to accumulate 114 multirole fighter , he said, "this project is within the middle-weight and is within the Rafale class, during this issue, we'll affect it within the Make in India region, with a rise in FDI, with support to the private sector. i feel in future this may usher in technology which is required to support the aviation sector. i feel it's important to possess another generation of aircraft in terms of capability, technology as we go along." A few months ago, the Indian Air Force was facing a shortage of around 10 squadrons of Combat Aircraft in sight of phasing out of the MiG-21 and MiG-27 fighters planes.