Looking To Procure Around 350 Aircraft In Next 20 Years: Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria

Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria has revealed that the Indian Air Force (IAF) is targeting to acquire about 350 aircraft in the next two decades.

Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria also stressed upon the need to develop asymmetric capabilities to strengthen the IAF’s total capacity keeping in consideration the challenges that the country faces from China.

He explained that India becoming self-reliant in the defence sector is integral to tackle several challenges.

“Looking at the northern neighbour, we have to have niche technologies which must be built in-house by our own industry for reasons of security,” the Chief of Air Staff was quoted in a report by the Press Trust of India (PTI).

The 62-year-old though added that procuring 350 aircrafts in the next 20 years is still only a ‘rough projection’.

He highlighted that the indigenously developed Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) project has infused confidence in the domestic aerospace industry. The Air Chief Marshal expressed that the industry has great potential to grow in the future.

Further, he hailed the personnel of the Air Force Station in Chandigarh for carrying out the heavy lift and air maintenance tasks and also conducting swift air mobilisation amidst the contingency in eastern Ladakh during his visit to the station recently.