Contrarian
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No one was comparing anything dude ........ I simply said ..
IAF has not got Interception ability as required against Threats at Present and in near Future........ Read all the Posts
I was implying this in not PAF scenario but it seems we are the only ones you plan and can think of comparing......
CAN IAF Defend its skys from other potential Intruders ...... Keep PAF aside and look for the others .... Its not that you have your IAF for Pakistan only..
Considering that a country needs to strenghten its defences against offensive elements in any given time you need to prepare for That ..
Hence i maintain its not about Comparison, its about IAF being not a good defensive force because lack of Interceptors of High performance and agility.
First of all you need to look at the available ground infrastructure. Along the western border, India has extensive and exhaustive air defence coverage with everything from Aerostat radars to GreenPine radars looking deep in Pakistani airspace. And all the new SAM's are located near the western border. Any air intrusions from the western border are very easily detected.
Such infrastructure eliminates the need of a big interceptor fleet atleast for the western threat.
On the North Eastern front, our defensive infrastructure is absolutely pathetic. THe air coverage is very low, there are gaping holes in the radar coverage and old SAM's are placed there.
Now what you are trying to mention is that IAF is a credible offensive force but not defensive. But the thing is that this is true, only when IAF is conducting an offensive mission, and at that time, its defensive capability is lacking, because during all other times, all the planes in IAF can perform interception. Literally all of the planes.
The Mirage 2000's are now being upgraded to Mirage 2005/9's.
The MiG 29's are being upgraded to MiG 29SMT/2's.
The Jags also have the Darin II upgrade.
The MiG 21 Bisons are already BVR capable.
This is apart from the intended fleet of 230 Su-30MKI's. Su-30MKI is no mean plane and IAF has ordered 230 of them. THis means that the bulk of IAF in the future will consist of Su-30MKI's and MRCA's.
ALL Of the above mentioned planes are there for any interception or air defence needs, so i dont really get the point of IAF being an offensive force and not defensive.