Indian Air Force chief defends Rafale, S-400 missile deals

New Delhi, Sept 12 Indian Air Force (IAF) Air Chief Marshal Birendra Singh Dhanoa on Wednesday defended the central government's decision to buy Rafale fighter aircraft from France and the Russian S-400 missile defense system.

Speaking at an special address on the topic, IAF Force Structure: 2035, organised by the Center for Air Power Studies, the Air Force chief stated, "By giving the Rafale and S-400, the legislature is fortifying the Indian Air Force to counter the setbacks of our depleting numbers."

Bringing up that there have been several occasions in the past when crisis buys were made, the Air Chief Marshal stated, "It is appropriate to take note of that all these acquisition were of two squadrons of contender airplane and under the umbrella of an Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA). We have bought 36 Rafale planes which influences two Air To drive squadrons."

Citing three cases from the past when previous governments went for the direct buy, he stated, "In January 1983 Pakistan had enlisted the first lot of F-16 aircraft. In light of this serious threat, the government had approached the Soviet Union which at that (point of) time did not have the fourth generation fighter. Thus, they gave us two squadrons of MIG 23MF which was the best available interceptor aircraft with the Soviet Union."

"Subsequently when the fourth generation aircraft became available, we purchased two squadrons of Mirage 2000 from France in 1985. In the coming a long time as they (Pakistan) indicated more enthusiasm for F-16, we purchased again two squadrons of MiG29 fourth generation fighters from the Soviet Union," he included.

The Air Force chief asserted that the IGA facilitates a faster obtainment of hardware at whatever point a basic operational need emerges, and it is the fastest methods for accomplishing an operational capability.

A week ago, Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Shirish Baban Deo had stated that Rafale is an able air ship and the power needs such combat capabilities.

At first in 2012, during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) tenure, India wanted to purchase 18 off-the-shelf jets from France, with 108 others to be assembled in the nation by the state-run aerospace and defense company HAL.

The BJP-drove government scrapped the UPA's plan in 2015 and announced that it would purchase 36 "ready to-fly" Rafale jets as opposed to looking for an innovation exchange from France's Dassault Aviation and making the aircraft in India.