Page 227 - Failure to Triumph - Journey of A Student

Aircraft in the Indian Air Force

Indian Air Force has aircraft and equipment of Russian (erstwhile Soviet Union), British, French,
Israeli, US and Indian origins with Russian aircraft dominating its inventory. HAL produces some of
the Russian and British aircraft in India under license.

Fighter and Multi-role Combat Aircraft

The primary role of the fighter aircraft in the Indian Air Force inventory is to achieve and maintain air
supremacy over the battle field. Air superiority fighters are fast and maneuverable aircraft designed
primarily for air-to-air combat with limited capability to strike ground targets. Multi-role aircraft on
the other hand are capable of conducting air-to air combat and ground attack with equal ease;
sometimes within the same mission. This ability of combining different operational tasks offers
considerable cost-of-ownership benefits to the operators. The major aircrafts with the Indian Air

force is as under:

Sukhoi Su-30 MKI. The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is the IAF’s primary air superiority fighter with
the capability to conduct strike missions. The IAF have placed an order for a total of 272
Su-30MKIs of which 146 are in service as of 2011.

Mikoyan MiG-29. The Mikoyan MiG-29 known as Baaz (Hindi for Hawk) is the IAF’s
dedicated air superiority fighter and forms the second line of defence for the IAF after the
Sukhoi Su-30MKI. The IAF operates 68 MiG-29s, all of which are currently being

upgraded to the MiG-29UPG standard.

Dassault Mirage 2000. The Dassault Mirage 2000, known as Vajra (Sanskrit for
Thunderbolt), is the IAF’s primary multirole fighter. The IAF currently operates 51 Mirage
2000Hs which are currently being upgraded to the Mirage 2000-5 standard.

MiG-21. The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 serves as an Interceptor aircraft in the IAF. By
2010, the IAF have phased out most of its MiG-21s and plans to keep only 125 that have
been upgraded to MiG-21 Bison standard. These aircraft are not expected to serve beyond
2016. The MiG-21s are planned to be replaced by the indigenously built HAL Tejas.

Strike, Attack and Close Support Aircraft

These are military aircraft designed to attack targets on the ground. They are often deployed as close
air support for, and in proximity to, their own ground forces, requiring precision strikes from these
aircraft.