India's Fighter Jet Dilemma: Why the Air Force Says 'We Need Both Pilots AND Drones'

The Indian Air Force is at a crossroads. They've got fancy new drones and plans for even more high-tech unmanned planes in the works. But here's the thing: they're saying those unmanned fighters can't do it all. India, they explain, needs a full fleet of old-school, pilot-flown fighter jets... 42 squadrons of 'em, to be exact!

Why all the fuss? It's about India's neighbors. With countries like China and Pakistan constantly upgrading their own air forces, India feels the pressure to be ready for anything – even a potential war on two fronts at once.

Drones: The Cool New Kid, But...​

Sure, those unmanned planes are super helpful. They can spy on enemies, keep a watchful eye on borders, and, sometimes, even launch an attack. But India's Air Force brass says pilots are irreplaceable when things get really intense.

Think of it like this: a pilot in the cockpit can make split-second decisions, change plans if the situation goes sideways, and pull off crazy maneuvers that might give India the edge in a dogfight.

The Enemy Factor​

Here's another wrinkle: China and Pakistan are also buying up these unmanned fighters. India doesn't want to get left behind in the drone race. But they also don't want to fall behind in the "classic" fighter jet game either. It's a tricky balance!

Drones have their downsides too. They can be hacked, sometimes can't quite think for themselves when missions get complicated, and they need a lot of people back at base keeping them connected and running smoothly.

The Bottom Line​

India's Air Force is saying "yes" to progress, but also "no" to putting all their eggs in the drone basket. Balancing pilots and unmanned planes is the name of the game, all to make sure India's got the airpower it needs to handle whatever comes its way. The future of air combat is going to be a fascinating mix of humans and machines working side-by-side!

 

[Pink Panther]

Mass production of Tejas variants is the only option to achieve them . MRFA should be abondoned after an order of 36 additional Rafales on urgent basis.

We can’t get 36 Rafale’s urgently, they have 300 order backlog, it will take 10-15 years to get our Rafale’s even if we order tomorrow, so it is not worth waiting that long, we need to get 36 squadrons from different Country if we want them immediately, in-fact for the price of 36 Rafales we could get 72-75 aircrafts also.

 

[Pink Panther]

I am in favour of reducing HAL's role in producing all aircrafts including Tejas gradually to zero and unlike some posters, I think Bharat can easily afford $25-30 billions for MRFA without endangering acquisitions of indigenous fighters . I downgrade necessity of MRFA due to other reasons. MRFA will not result in any significant transfer of technology. Potential air war against PLA will not allow both sides to send 4th generation fighters to cross the borders due to presence of dense air defence environment except to be used to fire stand off and long range missiles,CATS hunters .Those operations can be efficiently handled by our home grown fighters and upgraded Su -30 s . Next war with china will be protracted for months .This will require huge volume of munitions,spares that can only be handled through indigenous productions . A limited squadrons of Rafales will be useful in SEAD and DEAD operations across LAC.

For $25-$30Bln, we can’t get 114 Rafales, that is GOI’s main problem, also GOI doesn’t have 15 years to wait, WW3 is brewing already, so it would be better to cancel MRFA and focus on MK2, if there is a delay on MK2, then we can consider buying cheapest 4th gen fighters or even 5th gen fighters from different Country.

 

[Pink Panther]

How does 8 billion divided by 36 comes to 270 million usd? Wonder which company’s calculator are you using.

HAL hasn’t made 10 Tejas in any given year. After running the line for almost a decade. How do you propose they increase it to 20 annually? Not to mention, production can’t start before 2040 anyways.

Better than Dassault making 6-8/year.

 

[Pink Panther]

Rafale for MRFA can fill the void

We don’t have $40Bln or can wait for 15 years to get Rafale, time is essence here, WW3 is brewing, by that time 4th gen tech will reach it’s obsolence.

 

[Philippe Picard]

Better than Dassault making 6-8/year.

Really? Dassault making 6-8/year? Keep repeating a lie becomes the truth?

 

[Philippe Picard]

We don’t have $40Bln or can wait for 15 years to get Rafale, time is essence here, WW3 is brewing, by that time 4th gen tech will reach it’s obsolence.

Better off with F-21? Rafale will fly until 2070, long after you became senile (maybe you are already senile)...

 

[desigandu]

Long term problems must be addressed even if they take time - second player in fighters besides HAL + either local assembly of GE 404s or acceleration of Kaveri 2 to meet the requirements + high thrust engine with local capability; these problems will not be solved with just HAL, DRDO thus either needs foreign JVs and also a private player step in…no private player will take huge risks unless heavily backstopped by GOI, which should be done…say Tatas givens blank check by GOI to setup assembly, TOT of MRFA within 4 years of contact signing so first aircraft rolls out by 2030; same with engines where a JV with GE will produce GE 404 with the assembly line moving to India within 3 years of contract signing; but we must be realistic, practicle and look for solution…highest capability and lowest cost are impossible together, so we have to make tough choices now and be willing to spend money, a lot that is in short supply, thus we need trade offs…

 

[Pad UwU]

Better buy alternative Tejas mk1a production is farce and slow... Mk2 is still faraway dream... AMCA is just story without a proof of working prototype. Rafale has tons of backlog order... GE is just reasoning an excuses for slow production for f404, better to go license manufacturing instead than waiting too long
Other candidates for MRFA would be

• F16viper
• Gripen e/f
• Eurotyphoon tranche 4/5
• F15ex strike eagle
• Su57 new version with serrated/flat nozzle
• Or go with SK kf21 Boramae mk1

Stop fantasizing f35 US government won't allow it because we don't have advance technology infrastructure and the reason of ownership of s400

World war 3 is brewing faster, look at the new financial aid of Ukraine.... The military build up of west especially US in ASEAN REGION for defending Philippines and Taiwan against Chinese aggression... Don't forget the Israeli genocide of Palestinian people to wipe out terrorist Hamas.... Iraq Iran cooperation against Israel... Imagine if Pakistan involved todin development of Iran nuclear weapon that would be hilarious🙃😹

 

[Pink Panther]

Better off with F-21? Rafale will fly until 2070, long after you became senile (maybe you are already senile)...

Of Course especially when hearing the price of your Rafale, everybody will become senile, I am surprised that you are not already, also we can’t get Rafale before all here become senile including you even if we order next second

 

[JK]

Really? Dassault making 6-8/year? Keep repeating a lie becomes the truth?

We received 36 in 6 years even when no Country in the entire World other than us and France ordered them, now there are 300 order backlog, just yesterday Croatia ordered 6 of them, so the backlog is 306 and counting, how long do you think it will take France to make 306?

 

[JK]

42 squadrons ok.But 2 squadrons must be 5th gen Jets like F35.

F35 is out of contention, we won’t be offered (.), there is more possibility of us getting SU-57 unless we donate our S-400’s to Ukraine, also we have to buy 114 US planes first in-order to get F-35.

 

[Pink Panther]

How outdated bro ? USA procuring F-15EX & ordering new batches of Super hornet ; Russia procuring Su-35 , Su-30 ; UK procuring Super Hornet , France & other countries procuring Rafale... Every single country is procuring 4.5 gen fighter planes...

4th generation will not become obsolete as EW suit , sensors , radars , Mission computers , etc all will be upgraded ... Not to forget about Man-machine teamup in next decade, where there will be a mother-ship and all other things will be done by drones ( CATS warriors )

But in 15 years it will become outdated, Countries will be making 7th gen aircraft at that time, if we order Rafale tomorrow it will take 10-15 years for us to get them due to 306 order backlog.

 

[Akshat]

But we have to wait for 10-15 years before we can get the 2 squadron’s due to the heavy backlog Dassault has currently, so it is really not worth waiting that long, it’s better we focus on local jets MK2 and AMCA, we can definitely make them before we get our first Rafale’s, it would be better to go for a few 5th gen foreign fighters instead of Rafale, 62 Rafale’s that we have are plenty.

Dassault has promised deliveries starting in just 36 months. HAL promised the same, but failed. LM doesn't even promise that and flat out told Taiwan it can't get F16 for 7 years. So Dassault is still the best bet out of all the options.

 

[Akshat]

For $25-$30Bln, we can’t get 114 Rafales, that is GOI’s main problem, also GOI doesn’t have 15 years to wait, WW3 is brewing already, so it would be better to cancel MRFA and focus on MK2, if there is a delay on MK2, then we can consider buying cheapest 4th gen fighters or even 5th gen fighters from different Country.

And IAF and IN have officially certified that Rafale is the cheapest jet that can meet our requirements. Twice.

 

[Akshat]

Better than Dassault making 6-8/year.

Made 13 last year and 20 in 2020. Making 2 per month right now and 3 per month is planned for next year. HAL has never even heard of such numbers.

 

[Sandeep]

India needs more jets but they need to be more indigenous jets. They should buy 200 Tejas MK1A, 200 Tejas MK2 and at least 200+ AMCA. They should also upgrade the Sukhoi jets into Super Sukhoi which will increase its fire power, technology, equipment and weapons capability. Until production starts on our indigenous jets we will need to keep our Jaguar, Mig 29 and Mirage 2000 jets in service until 2035-2040 and slowly phase them out.

With our Jaguar jets we simply need to buy or find any jets for spare parts or if any can still fly we should buy them and install our technology. For the Mig 29 and Mirage 2000 we will need to refit and upgrade the technology, parts, air frames or equipment to keep it service for another 10+ years. We can also buy another 21 Mig 29 with air frames already manufactured so we can install the latest technology and equipment that we currently use. Also we will buy another 12 Sukhoi jets to replace the jets that crashed which will help a little bit and we should significantly produce these jets to carry the Brahmos missile.

As for our drone program we need to develop about 200 Archer NG which can be used for surveillance and as a armed drone which will increase our fire power, EW, ESM. SIGINT, COMINT, SATCOM and use indigenous missiles and bombs. We also need to develop 200+ stealth UCAV Ghatak drone which will be a game changer and we can install the same or similar upgraded technology and weapons capability.

We also need to produce more BMD, MR-SAM and Akash SAM and install it with our integrated air defence shield system with more missiles and squadrons deployed in key areas, cities and critical infrastructure.

 

[Akshat]

We received 36 in 6 years even when no Country in the entire World other than us and France ordered them, now there are 300 order backlog, just yesterday Croatia ordered 6 of them, so the backlog is 306 and counting, how long do you think it will take France to make 306?

We received 36 in 3 years. First deliveries always happen at least 3 years later. And that was when Dassault was delivering to Egypt and Qatar at the same time. Greece got it's planes as well in the same time (not sure if the ones delivered at that time were used ones or brand new as the deal had mix of both).

For comparison, HAL signed the deal for Tejas in 2013, delivered first one in 2016 and has delivered only 37 till date, even though they have no other customer whatsoever.

 

[Akshat]

We don’t have $40Bln or can wait for 15 years to get Rafale, time is essence here, WW3 is brewing, by that time 4th gen tech will reach it’s obsolence.

That's why Rafale is the only option. It's the cheapest plane and the only one that can be delivered on time.

 

[Akshat]

Of Course especially when hearing the price of your Rafale, everybody will become senile, I am surprised that you are not already, also we can’t get Rafale before all here become senile including you even if we order next second

So you are gonna turn senile within 36 months? I surely won't. Though I thought you are already there.

 

[Pink Panther]

So you are gonna turn senile within 36 months? I surely won't. Though I thought you are already there.

Why do you need 36 months, just one second after hearing the price, so you should be already.

 

[Pink Panther]

That's why Rafale is the only option. It's the cheapest plane and the only one that can be delivered on time.

Yes $300+Mln and 15 years delivery time.