IAF Seeks Urgent Resolution for MRFA Program Amidst Industry Concerns

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is making a renewed push for the swift resolution of the long-delayed Medium Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MMRCA) program, also known as MRFA, citing critical operational needs and concerns about the development of India's defence industry. The program, aimed at acquiring 114 fighter jets, has been in the works since 2018.

IAF officials have expressed frustration over delays in the procurement process, emphasizing the urgency of addressing the fighter jet shortfall. Anonymous sources within the IAF have voiced concerns about the impact of these delays on operational capabilities and the development of a robust private sector ecosystem in the defence industry.

The MRFA program is not just about acquiring new fighter jets; it's also seen as a crucial step towards building a self-reliant defence industry in India. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) envisions a private sector-led production line that can reduce India's reliance on state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for future projects, particularly the AMCA 5th generation fighter jet.

However, the lack of experience among private companies in large-scale defence projects has created a catch-22 situation. Private companies are looking to the MRFA program as a platform to gain experience and expertise, but their hesitancy to take the lead in the AMCA program is hindering its progress.

To address these concerns, the IAF and MoD are considering several options, including streamlining the procurement process, offering incentives to private sector partners, and providing a clear roadmap outlining the path from MRFA to AMCA.

The success of the MRFA program and the future of the AMCA program are intricately linked. By taking decisive action and addressing the concerns of the private sector, the IAF and MoD can ensure the timely modernization of India's fighter jet fleet and pave the way for a more self-reliant defence industry.

 

[Enforcer]

I don’t think we should go for rafale to be honest. Some type of partnership with uk or France about 5th gen aircraft is what we should be looking at now. If we buy rafale which will all be delivered 3 years later, we will always be whole generation of fighter behind many countries. Bad deal only because it’s too late now.

 

[Baka007]

How will MRFA or any foreign maal develop a robust ecosystem!?
The only ecosystem these orders develop are the screw driving ecosystem 🪛🔧🔩
Indigenous way is the only way for India to be a Super power, a super power cannot rely on other countries for it's defence needs.

 

[kumar]

Private companies did not come forward for AMCA. What ecosystem will they build.

 

[Sudha]

Logically right.,

As far as F15EX or for that matter any USA front line platforms are concerned., they come with whole lot of strings attached and we need USA permission to use it which btw isn't suggest able for Non Aligned nation like India.

My suggestion would be to buy

1. Couple squadron of Rafale
2. Fund Indian Platforms
3. Couple squadron of Russian so called 5th gen.
4. Upgrade SU 30 MKI

All has to be done parallel so that by 2030 we can start inducting all the above.

What about the logistical bottleneck of having different aircrafts? And Indian platforms the biggest hurdle is HAL.

 

[Sudha]

Enough of this drama,take 2 more squadrons of Rafale with maximum tot (what's is possible)and proceed with Tejas MK2.
AMCA which just look promising on paper,I am not sure if we will it's prototype flying in this decade!!

Tejas mk2? With HAL handling it, do not think it will all be supplied by 2040 by which time it will be absolete. If private sector isnt ready to handle the AMCA, it is better to establish another organisation which will handle the same taking out young engineers out of HAL & encourage them to automate routine tasks for a faster completion of products.

 

[Akshat]

The government aren't going to make a over $25 billion Rafale deal as it will be too expensive. The focus is on developing and manufacturing the Tejas MK2 and AMCA as otherwise we will be stuck on foreign expensive imports for the next few decades. Researching technology takes time to develop and is expensive but it has to be done and we have to learn how to do it or we will never learn.

Currently the number of squadrons are down but those numbers were developed over 20 years ago where one jet only had one role like either being a bomber or air superiority fighter. Now we are using multi role jets where we can use them for any role. Another improvement has been the number of SAM we have developed and deployed like the BMD Shield, S400, MR-SAM, Akash, Spyder, QRSAM along with the upgraded L70 air guns which automatically give the area a 24/7 area denial that jets are not able to do as they need to refuel or pilots need a break so this reduces the number of jets we actually need. So India's defence is very strong but what we need is more offensive capabilities and that's why we need to develop our own indigenous Tejas MK2 and the AMCA which will improve our squadron strengths and give us a advantage.

Government won’t? Sure? Then why is governments official stand states that they are more than willing to spend whatever it costs?

 

[Sudha]

No phoren mall MRFA... French lotting us even in navy rafale deal...

Order 300 Tejas mk2 instead.

With HAL at the helm the situation will be more critical than today.

 

[Akshat]

How will MRFA or any foreign maal develop a robust ecosystem!?
The only ecosystem these orders develop are the screw driving ecosystem 🪛🔧🔩
Indigenous way is the only way for India to be a Super power, a super power cannot rely on other countries for it's defence needs.

Would love that, but HAL has squarely failed at that.

 

[Sudha]

I don’t think we should go for rafale to be honest. Some type of partnership with uk or France about 5th gen aircraft is what we should be looking at now. If we buy rafale which will all be delivered 3 years later, we will always be whole generation of fighter behind many countries. Bad deal only because it’s too late now.

With HAL stalling everything it is better to go forward with MRFA. HAL should be junked by starving it of orders for bringing Bharat to this stage.😡

 

[Pad UwU]

With its inferior weapons package F15 has no chance against the Chinese Air Force. And EF was given their chance and they overbid. Rafale has proven to be the cheapest twice now, while meeting all the requirements twice as well.

Well Rafale at the moment is overprice today's inflation nothing different when eurofighter calculatits right pricing....
F15ex can access European weapons that can be use against those Chinese 5gen... Sad thing is the US still lazy to update them to use other available weapons for future proofing IMHO

 

[Pad UwU]

Logically right.,

As far as F15EX or for that matter any USA front line platforms are concerned., they come with whole lot of strings attached and we need USA permission to use it which btw isn't suggest able for Non Aligned nation like India.

My suggestion would be to buy

1. Couple squadron of Rafale
2. Fund Indian Platforms
3. Couple squadron of Russian so called 5th gen.
4. Upgrade SU 30 MKI

All has to be done parallel so that by 2030 we can start inducting all the above.

It would only be acceptable if we only buy rafale for our navy.... Getting more rafale for air force is too much waste when we can just update the su30 mkii into super version with our latest arsenal init...
Yes getting access the so called 5gen of Russian too is also good idea if we get r77m and r37m with our combo missiles.... Targeting enemies beyond visual range as a safety distance without them knowing

 

[Avada kedavra]

Absolutely false. IAF had given its preference way back in 2011 itself. It was HAL which failed to finalize the deal.

It's really funny that how HAL has been the kind of employee who should've been fired within a 2 weeks yet everyone is still clinging on to it since there is no other alternative.

People here in the comment section are literally begging HAL to complete the projects and deliveries on time!🤣 despite knowing how notorious HAL has been in disappointing all expectations.

 

[Akshat]

Well Rafale at the moment is overprice today's inflation nothing different when eurofighter calculatits right pricing....
F15ex can access European weapons that can be use against those Chinese 5gen... Sad thing is the US still lazy to update them to use other available weapons for future proofing IMHO

There is no certainty that EU will allow Meteor on F15. So far no plane outside Europe has been allowed to carry it.

As for price, Rafale beat EF hands down. Rafale is cheaper than EF and F18 and that is the official stance of GoI.

 

[Akshat]

It's really funny that how HAL has been the kind of employee who should've been fired within a 2 weeks yet everyone is still clinging on to it since there is no other alternative.

People here in the comment section are literally begging HAL to complete the projects and deliveries on time!🤣 despite knowing how notorious HAL has been in disappointing all expectations.

That’s the reason GoI is now creating that alternative. That’s why Tata got C295 deal and that’s why MRFA is progressing now.

 

[Sandeep]

Government won’t? Sure? Then why is governments official stand states that they are more than willing to spend whatever it costs?

They are using it as a back up incase Tejas 2 fails completely. As soon as we have our first flight then the deal will be cancelled completely. The same thing happened with Tejas MK1 and we cancelled the single engine fighter competition.

 

[NSR]

Boss, as I stated in my reply to your comment on the GCAP article, I am not exactly sure about cancelling MRFA entirely. The reason for that is as follows:

We presently have 30 squadrons (13 Su-30MKI squadrons, 5 Jaguar squadrons, 3 Mirage 2000 squadrons, 3 MiG-29 squadrons, 2 Tejas squadrons, 2 Rafale squadrons, and 2 MiG-21 squadrons). Of these, the 2 MiG-21 squadrons are phasing out by next year. By 2040-41, this number is set to drop to 17 squadrons (from the present number) plus new Tejas / AMCA squadrons.

The best case scenario for the Tejas Mk 1A is that if we assume all 180 are delivered by 2040 (unlikely, but let's assume), that adds 8 squadrons, taking the number up to 25 squadrons. Factor in 80 Tejas Mk 2 deliveries (out of a larger hypothetical order), and that adds another 4 squadrons, giving you 29 squadrons. Let's also assume (very optimistically) that you can get a single AMCA squadron, and that leaves us at 30 squadrons, which is where we are today. Do note that even 80 Tejas Mk 2 deliveries by then are fairly optimistic.

Hence, we still have a 12 squadron shortfall by 2040. Delays in local aircraft development will push squadron numbers down still. MRFA is therefore needed to bridge numbers and avoid this critical shortfall.

What we can do, however, is to possibly scale down MRFA to, say, 100 aircraft (5 squadrons instead of 6). That would save us around 4 billion USD which can be sent into GCAP.

I used to write that India should order at least 36 or 54 more Rafales after first 36 but I am really not sure anymore about it.
I feel that France/Dassault is trying to straight jacket us into same Mirage-2000 kind of contract.
No local productions, no TOT, expensive upgrades, expensive French armaments, etc

India should have ordered Tejas Mk2 development 3 years ago right after Tejas IA getting FOC.
HAL delivery performance is very poor, except for export stories they feed us.

Somethings just does not make sense at all.

 

[Frank]

With HAL at the helm the situation will be more critical than today.

50% order to hal

50% order to some private company

 

[Akshat]

They are using it as a back up incase Tejas 2 fails completely. As soon as we have our first flight then the deal will be cancelled completely. The same thing happened with Tejas MK1 and we cancelled the single engine fighter competition.

Again the same lies. Show me when was the RFI issued for SEF. Answer is never.

As for mk2, it ain’t coming before 2040. Roll out delayed again. No first flight this decade.

 

[Anant]

I used to write that India should order at least 36 or 54 more Rafales after first 36 but I am really not sure anymore about it.
I feel that France/Dassault is trying to straight jacket us into same Mirage-2000 kind of contract.
No local productions, no TOT, expensive upgrades, expensive French armaments, etc

India should have ordered Tejas Mk2 development 3 years ago right after Tejas IA getting FOC.
HAL delivery performance is very poor, except for export stories they feed us.

Somethings just does not make sense at all.

Boss, if we scale down MRFA to 100 aircraft, that is still a substantial-enough number for local production, and we can shoe-horn a bunch of ToT. Moreover, the large order would also give us enough leverage to integrate indigenous weapons.

A smaller order gets us no ToT, no local production, limited indigenous weapon integration, and doesn't help the squadron number problem.

 

[Pad UwU]

There is no certainty that EU will allow Meteor on F15. So far no plane outside Europe has been allowed to carry it.

As for price, Rafale beat EF hands down. Rafale is cheaper than EF and F18 and that is the official stance of GoI.

Most EU members are in NATO alliance.... MBDA is compose of corporation from UK, France and German division... They can easily sell it to US for integration in f15ex if there's a demand problem is Boeing and Raytheon would be piss of because MBDA is a competitor for their missile business while Boeing is the platform owner of f15ex....

Nah eurofighter is only a bit pricey but hey... Rafale is 250m+ if you add inflation and some dogee add ONS from Dassault pricing