Air Force Chief said- future wars cannot be fought with imported weapons

New Delhi: After the upgrade from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the fighter Sukhoi Su-30MKI will no longer be a Russian jet but will have 78 percent indigenous component. In the first phase, 84 Su-30s will be extensively upgraded to become 4.5 to next generation jets to work with other Indian-made aircraft in the coming years. The government has sanctioned ₹64,000 crores for this, through which radar, missiles, sensors and avionics are to be replaced.

After a long wait, the Central Government had on November 30 given approval regarding Approval of Requirement (AON) for various capital acquisition proposals worth ₹2.23 lakh crore. In the same meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the Defence Ministry has approved indigenously upgrading the Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft from HAL. 84 fighter Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft are to be upgraded with the sanctioned amount of ₹64,000 crores. To increase the firepower of Sukhoi, such radar, new engines, IRST sensors, next generation RWR, advanced jammer, avionics, new EW suit, DFCC, Indian missiles and bombs are to be installed.

Air Force Chief VR Choudhary said at a function that after being upgraded at HAL, the Sukhoi Su-30MKI will no longer be a Russian jet, but will turn into an Indian jet after 78 percent indigenization. The Air Force has started the work of upgrading Sukhoi fighter planes. Chaudhary said that the Air Force’s Mirage-2000, Sukhoi Sukhoi Su-30MKI and MiG-29 aircraft are 30 to 35 years old. Some of their technology is becoming outdated. These are third generation fighter aircraft, so it has become necessary to upgrade them with fifth generation or latest technology. At present, the Indian Air Force itself has upgraded the Mirage-2000 and MiG-29 fighter fleet.

Pointing to the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflicts, he said that lessons can be learned from these that future wars cannot be fought with imported weapons. We have to indigenize our weapon systems, especially air launch defence. We have included indigenous air defense systems to counter drones. However, we still do not have effective technology to counter the hypersonic threat but we have inducted the indigenous light combat helicopter ‘Prachanda’ for high altitude areas. To boost surveillance capabilities, we have three Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems, named ‘Netra’ systems.

Apart from this, HAL is going to manufacture new AL-31FP engines to replace the old Sukhoi-30 engines under the Mid Life Refit and Upgrade Program in the near future. HAL will also manufacture new RD-33 engines to replace the aging engines of MiG-29 UPG. The upgradation of Sukhoi aircraft will provide immense strength to the Indian Air Force and will also reduce the dependence on foreign equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to a great extent. Recently, in a bid to increase its squadron strength, the Indian Air Force has issued a tender to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to procure 12 advanced Sukhoi-30 fighter jets, which will be manufactured in India in partnership with Russian original equipment manufacturers.