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Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force



INDIAN AIR FORCE AIRCRAFTS ARE VINTAGE



True, many aircraft in IAF are 30 to 40 years old. However -



1) Most of the old aircraft have been upgraded with latest Israeli, French, Russian and Indian avionics & electronic warfare systems.



Before Upgrade:







After Upgrade:









2) They are all equipped with ultra modern air-to-air missiles and laser targeting pods/guided bombs.



3) IAF pilots' flying hours per year match that of Western powers. The flying hours of pilots in our immediate neighbourhood is guesstimated to be lower.



4) Our neighbors too have the same issues as IAF. Roughly 50% of Chinese Air Force combat aircraft is of 70s/80s vintage. Eg: Chinese Air Force has around 400 Chengdu J-7, which is basically a mildly modified Mig 21. PAF has 140 Chengdu J-7s and 160 Dassault Mirage III aircraft (equivalent to Mig 21)







5) United States Air Force still uses the 60 year old Boeing B-52 Stratofortress long range bomber. They have 60 plus such planes (all have undergone upgrades) in their inventory and they intend to use the aircraft till 2040.







NUMBER OF ACTIVE AIRCRAFT IN IAF IS FALLING CONTINUOUSLY



The second most favorite topic of mainstream media is the number of active squadrons in IAF. Sure, the numbers are coming down. However, there have been a few significant changes in the way Air Wars are fought these days -



1) Previously, there were 2 types of combat aircraft - air superiority aircraft (Eg: Mig 21) and Ground attack aircraft (Eg: Jaguar). Nowadays, all modern fighter aircraft are "multi-role aircraft" capable of all sorts of missions.



2) Previously, if you had to take out a fixed target (eg: radar post) 500 km inside enemy territory, you had to send aircraft in. But now, ballistic and cruise missiles can do the same job with lower risks. Modern air-to-air missiles too have longer range and better strike rate than its predecessors 20 or 30 years ago.



3) One important responsibility of Air Force is providing "Close Air Support" - striking enemy positions just a few hundred metres from the friendlies. However, in the future, the same role is likely be fulfilled by combat helicopters like HAL LCH/Boeing Apache.







4) Acquisitions like airborne early warning aircraft and better surface to air systems (mostly from Israel & Russia) reduces the need for large numbers of fighter aircraft. AWACS & airborne tanker aircraft are actually called "force multipliers". The $5 billion deal for acquisition of S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system is another huge gamechanger. How big? The mere presence of this in Syria denied Western Air Force any ability to operate in that theater, swinging the civil war back in favor of Russians & Syrian Government. At the time of deployment, a Russian Defence Ministry official said "All illusions of amateurs about existence of invisible (stealth) jets will face a disappointing reality"







5) Older aircraft are not scrapped. They are just mothballed and kept in storage.



6) USAF had 26,000 aircraft (all types) in 1960's but now it's down to 13,000. The fall in numbers is steeper among European NATO powers and Russia. As cheaper and more effective alternatives to combat aircraft are developed, the fall in absolute numbers is expected to continue.



7) Fighter aircraft have higher attrition rate than transport and passenger aircraft world over. They are subjected to extreme supersonic maneuvers during peacetime for training. Certain African/Latin American/Middle Eastern countries don't have high attrition rates but their pilots are poorly trained. IAF believes that it is better to lose planes in peacetime rather than lose a war. PAF too trains hard and apparently, Chinese Air Force has recently adopted this philosophy. Meanwhile, if you think only IAF Migs are crashing, here is a graph of F16 crashes over time -







However, Russian aircrafts do have a higher crash rate per 10,000 flying hours than Western Jets. That partly explains why Russian jets are roughly 50% cheaper. After all, you get what you pay for. Anyway, in this thread, I would like to present the capabilities, performance stats and drawbacks of each of the fighter aircraft in IAF's inventory. A snapshot of current IAF aircraft -





Source: Flightglobal.com







* Mach 1.0 = 1234 kmph

* Range in kms on (internal fuel + drop tanks) and no weapons. Sukhoi range on internal fuel only

* Number of hardpoints: Points on the fuselage & wings from which load is carried. More hardpoints means the aircraft can carry a variety of missiles, bombs, rockets and drop tanks

* Max weapons payload (self-explanatory)

* Thrust to weight ratio: Like power to weight ratio of cars. Air superiority fighters have thrust to weight ratio > 1.0. Such fighters can travel vertically upwards (90 degrees), a must for air-to-air dogfighting. The Indian Air Force has the 4th largest number of fighter aircrafts (roughly around 800) in the world. But reading about Indian Air Force in mainstream media makes for a depressing reading (it's mostly about aircraft lost due to crashes, delays in aircraft acquisition etc). So I'd like to first put my view across on these two purported IAF issues -True, many aircraft in IAF are 30 to 40 years old. However -1) Most of the old aircraft have been upgraded with latest Israeli, French, Russian and Indian avionics & electronic warfare systems.2) They are all equipped with ultra modern air-to-air missiles and laser targeting pods/guided bombs.3) IAF pilots' flying hours per year match that of Western powers. The flying hours of pilots in our immediate neighbourhood is guesstimated to be lower.4) Our neighbors too have the same issues as IAF. Roughly 50% of Chinese Air Force combat aircraft is of 70s/80s vintage. Eg: Chinese Air Force has around 400 Chengdu J-7, which is basically a mildly modified Mig 21. PAF has 140 Chengdu J-7s and 160 Dassault Mirage III aircraft (equivalent to Mig 21)5) United States Air Force still uses the 60 year old Boeing B-52 Stratofortress long range bomber. They have 60 plus such planes (all have undergone upgrades) in their inventory and they intend to use the aircraft till 2040.The second most favorite topic of mainstream media is the number of active squadrons in IAF. Sure, the numbers are coming down. However, there have been a few significant changes in the way Air Wars are fought these days -1) Previously, there were 2 types of combat aircraft - air superiority aircraft (Eg: Mig 21) and Ground attack aircraft (Eg: Jaguar). Nowadays, all modern fighter aircraft are "multi-role aircraft" capable of all sorts of missions.2) Previously, if you had to take out a fixed target (eg: radar post) 500 km inside enemy territory, you had to send aircraft in. But now, ballistic and cruise missiles can do the same job with lower risks. Modern air-to-air missiles too have longer range and better strike rate than its predecessors 20 or 30 years ago.3) One important responsibility of Air Force is providing "Close Air Support" - striking enemy positions just a few hundred metres from the friendlies. However, in the future, the same role is likely be fulfilled by combat helicopters like HAL LCH/Boeing Apache.4) Acquisitions like airborne early warning aircraft and better surface to air systems (mostly from Israel & Russia) reduces the need for large numbers of fighter aircraft. AWACS & airborne tanker aircraft are actually called "force multipliers". The $5 billion deal for acquisition of S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system is another huge gamechanger. How big? The mere presence of this in Syria denied Western Air Force any ability to operate in that theater, swinging the civil war back in favor of Russians & Syrian Government. At the time of deployment, a Russian Defence Ministry official said "5) Older aircraft are not scrapped. They are just mothballed and kept in storage.6) USAF had 26,000 aircraft (all types) in 1960's but now it's down to 13,000. The fall in numbers is steeper among European NATO powers and Russia. As cheaper and more effective alternatives to combat aircraft are developed, the fall in absolute numbers is expected to continue.7) Fighter aircraft have higher attrition rate than transport and passenger aircraft world over. They are subjected to extreme supersonic maneuvers during peacetime for training. Certain African/Latin American/Middle Eastern countries don't have high attrition rates but their pilots are poorly trained. IAF believes that it is better to lose planes in peacetime rather than lose a war. PAF too trains hard and apparently, Chinese Air Force has recently adopted this philosophy. Meanwhile, if you think only IAF Migs are crashing, here is a graph of F16 crashes over time -However, Russian aircrafts do have a higher crash rate per 10,000 flying hours than Western Jets. That partly explains why Russian jets are roughly 50% cheaper. After all, you get what you pay for. Anyway, in this thread, I would like to present the capabilities, performance stats and drawbacks of each of the fighter aircraft in IAF's inventory. A snapshot of current IAF aircraft -Source: Flightglobal.com* Mach 1.0 = 1234 kmph* Range in kms on (internal fuel + drop tanks) and no weapons. Sukhoi range on internal fuel only* Number of hardpoints: Points on the fuselage & wings from which load is carried. More hardpoints means the aircraft can carry a variety of missiles, bombs, rockets and drop tanks* Max weapons payload (self-explanatory)* Thrust to weight ratio: Like power to weight ratio of cars. Air superiority fighters have thrust to weight ratio > 1.0. Such fighters can travel vertically upwards (90 degrees), a must for air-to-air dogfighting. Last edited by SmartCat : 5th March 2019 at 20:24 . Reason: Typo