This is a reportage of Ajay Shukla, as usual it is one another example of poor reportage and hence nothing but an unsurprising stuff.
Let me point out some chieling points from his report.
Published in Business Standard
26th February 2008
For Indian defence planning, it would be the most expensive folly ever.
What makes Ajay shukla think that? especially when more then half of total cost will be invested in India itself.
In acquiring yet another type of fighter aircraft, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will compound an existing problem of interoperability. There are major differences between Russian block equipment (the MiG series, and the Sukhoi-30MKI) and Western bloc equipment (the Mirage-2000 and the Jaguar). As a result, each IAF airbase is geared to support a certain type of aircraft; other types cannot just fly in and operate from there without major logistic preparations.
HE HE HE HE, I just can't stop my laugh upon how one can be naive!
IAF has so far operated various types during the each and every conflict or peaceful period or during joint exercises successfully then how does this question of interoperability of logistics, maintenance and service get raised?
Even during Alaska Joint exercise with USAF, we had brought our Jaguars to Alaska, so according to the Ajay shukla IAF had shifted all its entire fleet of jaguar’s maintenance and ground personnel to Alaska.
Consider an imaginary war with Pakistan. If India were launching a ground offensive, say around Lahore,
the IAF would support that thrust with as many combat aircraft as possible. It would need to bomb Pakistani airbases to prevent the Pakistan Air Force from taking off; it would strike Pakistani ground forces and the infrastructure that supports them; it would also perform other missions like photoreconnaissance.
One can see that mind of Ajay shukla is still romming around the airwar of 1965 and 1971 and upon that similar notion he has made several mistakes in his report.
Since the airbases around Lahore have just a small number of aircraft,
How does he knows regarding presense of small number of aircraft around Lahore?
fighters based in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and the eastern sector will need to be re-located to Punjab, just before the battle begins.
How does he knows that fighters from these part would be relocated hypothetically since according doctrine of any airforce relocation of any fighter type remains anonymous.
That is where the problem begins. A Mirage 2000 cannot easily relocate from its permanent base in Gwalior to an airbase in, say, Pathankote. The Pathankote airbase supports Mig-series aircraft; its maintenance personnel, spare parts inventory, stocks of bombs and rockets and operational practices are geared towards MiGs.
Ajay shukla seems to have made an very fatal mistakes in his report, as how didn’t he takes into account several Russian originating BVR, WVR Missiles, air to ground ammunition are compatible with Mirage-2000, so ground staff from pathankote don’t have to fight while incorporating ammunition over mirage of Russian origin. On the top of that shifting of maintenance personnal, spare parts inventory are not a big deal since IAF is quite versatile in this respect as far as its experience as well as eagerness in joint exercises with various foreign airforces.
Today, if a Mirage 2000 were to land in Pathankote, it would require an entire support team from Gwalior to make it take off again.
Why doe it so?
Is there thing that those ground personnel who are situated in gwalior are the only human species in the world that can make IAF’s Mirage-2000 flyable?
In wartime, relocating a squadron of Mirage-2000s would be a major logistical exercise and a clear signal to Pakistan of an impending attack.
How does Pakistan knows about it regarding the presense of a particular aircraft type on IAF’ airbase?
This problem is already set to worsen when India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), called the Tejas, enters service with the IAF.
As usual, Ajay shukla simply couldn’t refrain himself from spoiling the name of LCA.
Purchasing a new MMRCA will invite a full-blown logistic nightmare.
As thought by ill mentality of Ajay shukla.
Besides the need for inter-base operability, there is another good reason to abandon the MMRCA purchase: today’s IAF simply cannot exploit the capabilities of the aircraft it is setting out to buy.
HE HE HE HE HE….! I can’t stop from laughing as how does an experienced IAF in operating various types of aircraft in its lifetime can’t exploits the capabilities of MRCA?
The technological excellence of a modern MMRCA, like the Eurofighter or the Rafale, does not lie in its airframe, engines, or its flying performance. Instead, its advantages lie in avionics, and in its net-centric capability, which means that the aircraft and its pilot are seamlessly integrated into an electronic battlefield management system.
Oh Ajay shukla there is no parallel to you in the world!
Ajay shukla seems to have sounding like IAF is naïve in net-centric capability, avionics, electronic battlefield management etc.
This system receives inputs --- in real time --- from a comprehensive network of radars, airborne warning systems and satellites;
All these inputs are in place but I failed to understand why does Ajay shukla’s stomach is aching over this input.
and it displays these inputs in the form of a battlefield picture. The controllers then allocate targets to Indian fire units, which could be fighter aircraft, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles or even army rocket batteries. Air forces like the American, British and French can electronically assign a target to an airborne fighter and automatically upload a digital map of the target area.
Oh I see, so IAF which has an distinction of exercising with several advance and top of the line airforce in the world is still unaware about battlefield picture as describe by so called ajay shukla.
India is far from such a network.
Which network is he talking about? Since according several reports publish by IAF and IA, both of this entity are striving for network centric capability and IAF is also embark upon in the form of aerospace command.
Our radars operate in small clumps,
I think name of Induction of Green pine radar, Aerostate radar, Indra radar, Rajendra radar and several other existing and upgraded radars are still align to Ajay shukla.
our data links are not in place,
How does we can place datalink in the absence of MRCA? Especially when US is unwilling to allow datalinking of F-18’s by IAF which is developed in house by India itself..
and our airspace management network is inferior even to Pakistan’s.
Ha HA HA HA HA! Ajay shukla tera jawab nahi.
Many of our key systems work on incompatible protocols.
Which protocol does he talking about? Can someone tell me?
An economically resurgent India can afford to buy the MMRCA. But doing so would be like a farmer with a bumper crop busting his money on a BMW with a city navigation system and great FM stereo. He wouldn’t use most of the high-tech systems.
So this is key contention of Ajay shukla and hence he doesn’t find any other subject other MRCA by exhibits his poor reportage.
So what is India’s smarter alternative? The path is illuminated by an earlier IAF procurement, the carefully structured Sukhoi-30MKI fighter. Instead of accepting a ready-built Russian aircraft for fancy prices, the IAF creatively married Sukhoi’s airframe and engine excellence, with an advanced avionics package made from Israeli and French components. The Sukhoi-30MKI’s avionics were tailor-made for IAF requirements; India did not pay fancy prices for capabilities that would never be used. The Sukhoi experience was further refined when the IAF went about upgrading the MiG series fighters; advanced avionics will extend their service lives at minimal cost.
This is nothing but clear case of bribe that is being paid by Russian to Ajay shukla to go for false reportage.
India must stick with a medium fighter that it already flies. The IAF has long pressed for increasing the size of its Mirage 2000 fleet (currently 52 aircraft), a fighter that its pilots hold in high regard. An advanced variant of the Mirage 2000 was one of the options in the MMRCA purchase until Paris replaced it with the newer, more expensive Rafale fighter, informing New Delhi that the Mirage 2000 production line was being wound up. An opportunity lies here for India; Paris would most likely grab the chance to sell India the Mirage 2000 production line, and benefit from production royalties and the opportunity to involve French avionics companies like Thales and Thomson CSF in developing an aviation package customised for India. France realises that American and Russian marketing clout in New Delhi leaves it with little chance of selling the Rafale.
Oh so sudden change now Ajay shukla is expressing his sympathy towards French after so much bashing of western fighter planes, seems to be even French are lobbying hard to bring Rafale below the throat of IAF and hence French doesn’t seems to have remain far behind in bribing Ajay shukla.
Today, no official or politician is willing to tell the Indian public the unpalatable truth that the IAF is not technologically geared to operate highly networked fighter aircraft.
How does they can tell this truth? Especially when if you have to become competent with hightly network centric aircaft, you have to possess those aircraft in first place.
Instead, it is more convenient to make grandiose declarations about providing the military with the world’s best equipment and then stonewalling the purchase with layers of procedures.
But now several in built filters are in place to smoothen this layers of procedures
Opting for a near-state-of-the-art, made-in-India Mirage 2000 variant requires not just a fine understanding of defence planning but also the courage to make and publicly defend a subjective military decision.
I don’t understand why does this Ajay shukla is propogating about Mirage-2000 especially when it can’t no loger fulfill IAF’s demand.
Neither quality has been in evidence in the MoD so far.
And How about porr quality of your reportage ajay shuklaji?
