Indian Rafale Deal and Pakistan's Options

By Shahzad Masood Roomi


India and France on Monday inked an inter-governmental MoU on the sale of 36 French fighter jets. According to a statement of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, financial aspects and details of the deal are yet to be worked out. It means technically, both parties have finalized the details of the deal.

ANALYSIS: Indradanush IV - Joint IAF- RAF Exercise

By Shahzad Masood Roomi

The British Royal Air Force's Eurofighter Typhoon and Indian Air Force's Sukhoi Su-30MKI ‘Flankers’ came face to face during a successful major exercise, Indradanush, in UK. This was the 4th round of the exercise which first held in  India in October 2006. Last visit of IAF's Su-30MKIs was in 2007 when 6 of the IAF Su-30MKIs along with one IL-78 tanker were hosted by 25 Squadron of RAF based in Leeming.

In the latest edition of the exercise, which concluded on July 30th, IAF dispatched 4 MKIs from 2 Sqn ("Winged Arrows") based at Tezpur near India’s frontier with China. RAF Typhoon squadrons from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire represented RAF in the exercise.

Intensive flying operations from both IAF and RAF against each other was major highlight of the exercise.  According to Aviation Week, 10 IAF crews including 15 pilots and 5 weapon systems operators flew twice daily missions, often flying all four Su-30s on air-to-air training missions flying beyond visual range (BVR) and within visual range (WVR) engagements with the Typhoon.

The Flanker pilots were also deployed the thrust-vectoring control (TVC) “super-maneuverability” capability. For RAF pilots, this was something new and exciting. “This is fantastic. It’s the first time I’ve flown against a Flanker this morning and it’s fascinating to see another air force do its thing in a different aeroplane. Flying against an aircraft which is equally comparable to the Typhoon isn’t something we get to fight against on a regular basis in the UK.", Typhoon pilot Flight Lieutenant Mike Highmoor spoke shortly after his first encounter with the TVC equipped Su-30. 

Indian pilots used the yaw capability of the TVC to remain inside the tight turn radius of the Typhoon in order to keep the Typhoon in missile launch parameters, as reported by Aviation Week. It was also reported that RAF pilots also flew in rear cockpit seats of MKIs to get maximum experience of its flight profile.

According to RAF's Wg. Cmdr. Chris Moon, CO 3 (Fighter) Sqn, which led the exercise, said that the exercise was advanced in “crawl, walk, run approach” meaning the pilots from both the air forces were put in complex scenarios in a gradual manner. MKIs took on the Typhoons in 1vs1, 2vs1 and increasingly complex engagements.  During the last phase of exercise,  mission saw all four Flankers working with six Typhoons to escort and support two C-130J Hercules on a para-dropping mission. They were opposed by 8-10 red-air Typhoons.

The exercise also saw the use of an Indian C-17 and an Il-78 tanker aircraft. 

ANALYSIS:

The ultimate aim of every exercise is to mitigate the potential threats and Indradanush is no exception in that regard. RAF's Typhoon has physical characteristics similar to Chinese J-10 (Canards, Delta Wings) while IAF's SU-30MKI is undoubtedly the most advanced version of Russian Flanker fighters sans SU-35. RAF pilots witnessed the employment of Russian TVC technology in both complex BVR and WVR scenarios.

Keeping in mind the prevailing geopolitical tensions between China-India and Russia-NATO, this particular exercise offered huge learning curve for the fighter pilots of both the air forces to understand and study their opponents. The experience gained in this exercise is going to play a critical role for both the forces in mitigating very peculiar types of threats. i.e. J-10 for IAF, Russian Flanker for RAF.
 

Rafale or PAK-FA? Debate on Future of Indian Air Force

By Shahzad Masood Roomi

As India and France have been working on MRCA deal for 126 Rafale jets, Indian PM has announced a separate deal of 36 Rafale jets which will be delivered in fly away conditions as soon as possible. This deal would accelerate the modernization of IAF fleet. Along with this deal, if MRCA deals goes through Indian Air Force would have 160+ Rafale fighters in its fleet in the next decade.

According to Indian defense minister Manohar Parrikar, these Rafale fighters would be inducted into IAF within next two years making it clear that this off-the-shelf deal is part of Indian plans to immediately provide IAF two squadrons of state of the art fighters that it desperately need to upgrade its aging fleet. Commenting on this new deal, Dassault CEO, Eric Trappier maintained that there was a  real operational need because India needs combat jets to counter modernization of certain countries hinting towards modernization programs of PLAAF and PAF. China and Pakistan.

But there is a bigger debate going on within Indian defense and strategic community about the future of IAF as it was reported by IHS Janes earlier this week.

"The central difficulty is what analysts in India described to IHS Jane's as a "massive disconnect between the Ministry of Defence [MoD], the IAF, and the political community in India who have to contend with larger diplomatic and industrial issues" on what the future IAF should look like"

According to Janes, the conflict revolves around the views of those who favors Rafale and those who consider Russian T-50/PAK-FA 5th generation fighter. This conflict is part of larger debate regarding the future outlook of Indian front line fighter fleet. IAF is inclined towards more Western platforms but not the US made platforms, describes Janes' report. Apart from this difference of views on future orientation of IAF, financial constraints are also remains important dynamics affecting the overall debate on choosing French or Russian fighter planes.

"If you put your resources into the T-50, then the IAF becomes an almost all-Russian fleet, and you are betting your future force structure on an aeroplane that is almost solely on paper at present. If you decide to go with the Rafale, then you are forgetting about having a fifth-generation aeroplane, but at least you know everything on this platform exists and works pretty much as advertised," Janes quoted an unnamed Indian defense analyst.

It is obvious, that if IAF is not looking for F-35 from the US the PAK-FA program is there and IAF would pursue it for its 5th Gen fighter requirements. India may ended up with slashing MRCA altogether and settled for deal of 36 Rafale while diverting resources to PAK-FA. Though, PAK-FA is still in early phase of development unlike Rafale which enetered in operational service with French air force years ago but this is the only 5th generation joint venture which India can be part of, France does not has any 5th generation fighter development project as advanced as PAK-FA.

Although now many Indian experts are casting doubts on the future of MRCA citing the alleged French refusal for transfer of technology but considering the current procurement trends, it would be prudent to consider a future IAF fleet comprises on US made transporters (C-130, C-17), French and Russian 4++ generation fighters (Rafale. SU-30MKI) and Russian 5th generation fighters (PAK-FA), while Israel providing AWACS platforms.