Why India needs to rethink the Rafale deal

Russia India Report

Fighter planes fall into two categories – the hunters and the hunted. The French are pitching their Rafale as the dogfight duke that is the crème de la crème of jet fighters. But the Russian side disagrees. Alexander Kadakin, Russia's ambassador in India, says Chinese-made Sukhoi-27s would be able to swat the Rafales like “mosquitoes on an August night.”

At this point it’s pointless to deliver the verdict on which aircraft is superior. The Rafale is a largely unknown commodity in aviation circles. Like most French fighters, it is most likely an unassuming, unspectacular but honest aircraft.

India to ground its entire Sukhoi Su-30MKI fleet after crash

Two Sukhoi Su-30 MKIs refuelling from IL-78 tanker

India has grounded its entire Sukhoi-30 fleet after a recent crash because it doesn’t want to put its pilots in harm’s way.

The fighters have not flown for a week after a Su-30 MKI of the Indian Air Force crashed near Pune, raising questions about the safety record of the fighter.

With the IAF operating close to 200 twin-engine Su-30s, the grounded planes represent almost a third of the country’s fighter fleet. India is due to get 72 more of these planes, each worth over Rs. 200 crore.

The IAF is down to 34 combat squadrons, as against an authorised strength of 44. Each squadron has up to 18 fighter planes.

India's Sukhoi-30MKI's to dominate South India and Indian Ocean

       

Even as the western and eastern fronts with Pakistan and China are bolstered with additional Sukhoi-30MKI squadrons, India has also kick-started plans to base its most lethal 'air dominance' fighter in south India to keep a 'strategic eye' over Indian Ocean. 

       Defence minister A K Antony will inaugurate the new airbase at Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu on May 27, which will eventually house a Sukhoi squadron (16 to 18 jets) after the requisite “tech-flight hangers, avionic bays, labs, fuel dumps and other infrastructure” comes up over the next few years.