Indian Air force, the almighty force which should be ready for two front war (With Pakistan having 25 and China having 42 at the same time ). In Present Air force of any country decides it's force power. wars can not be win by just mere numbers of soldiers . One should have adequate number of weapons and well trained personals.
Sanctioned squadron strength of Air force 42 and This calculation is old because of present threat of Pakistan and China . Defense expert has started talking about increase in number of squadrons . Which should be more than 42 . Today we have left with only 30 Squadron many of them are on the verge of retirement due to their life cycle.
So Indian government decided to lessen this gap by floating MMRCA ( medium multi role combat aircraft) In 2007 eventually this demand was raised by Air force in 2001 just after Kargil War. In meantime in 2004 general election took place and government had changed and new government took 3 years to float the tender . Again in 2009 election took place but this time government did not change and after 2 years in 2011 they decided to buy 126 Rafale( bare aircraft without weapons and logistic support ) from France and 2 years they did nothing and in 2013 the defense minster said we do not have money to buy 126 jets. Again in 2014 general election took place and this time government changed and they scrapped the tender ( means all the work of last 8 years went in garbage ). Now government decided to buy 36 aircraft from France government ( now it is government to government deal previously it was government to company deal ) because according to new government this will take less time and there will be no chance of corruption because in previous deal there could be chance of corruption.
So basically it took 15 years to decide our politicians and that's GREAT..!!
Before coming to controversy lets talk about HAL(Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) :-
What is HAL ? It is governed under the Indian ministry of defense HAL is the only company which assemble and make jets , helicopters and overhaul of these machines. We do not have other company who can manufacture. HAL has made only two types of aircraft for India 1) HF 24 Marut 2) Lca Tejas. marut had retired in 90s. WHAT?? ONLY TWO what about rest of the other aircraft they are assembled or produced by HAL under license agreement mainly from Russia like MIG 21, SU 30 etc. and their greatest achievement is they have never completed any project under the given time frame. like SU 30 project is delayed by 6 years and Lca Tejas was approved in 1983 and it took 35 years to get IOC ( initial operation clearance means aircraft can fly without weapons ) and in 2018 December they got FOC ( final operation clearance means it is war ready ) and they have not completed the order of IOC yet still they are dreaming of producing 16 aircraft per year. and YES air force has got affected by the HAL performance quoted by Air Force Chief.
So HAL is only responsible for this condition of Air Force ?? NO
Controversy :-
Q Asked by leader of opposition party why not 126 ?
A Given by defense minister of opposition party which was in power in 2013.
Q Why only 36 ?
A it's not just a number . Its 2 squadron . We could go for more than 36 also but it is wise decision to go for less and than repeat the order and that will be cheap for us. Because next order will be comparitivily cheap
Q Why rate is so high ?
A weapons + logistic Support + Serviceability:- 75 % of fleet of Rafale will be war ready. ( IAF is hugely impacted by serviceability of present aircraft because it was not mandatory clause that time) . we are still using Mirage but production of mirage has been shut down by France and we need used mirage so that we can use spare part of our fleet of mirage. all these are included in the deal. and there is one offset clause. and nothing comes free we should understand this. they will surely charge for this.
Q Why Reliance Got 30k crore in deal of 59k crore ?
A This is the lie spread by opposition party. Reliance has got only 900 crore because of offset clause lets understand what is this offset clause. Rafale will invest 30 % in India of 59k crore. and 100 companies have got share in this offset clause and reliance is one of them yes they have got biggest share.
Q Why Reliance ?
A Well here any company could be picked by Rafale because government wants to create eco system for manufacturing aircrafts in India because till we involve other private companies we cant make eco system because hal is not able to deliver ( Reasons may be numerous why hal is not able to deliver but it is under government, functioning of HAL is responsibility of government )
Apart From all that government has floated another tender of MMRCA 2.0 which will be of 110 fighters and it will follow SP model ( foreign companies will make aircraft in India in partnership with Indian private sector )
I do not understand why it took this much of time when we know that our neighbors can impose war upon us. government can went for 146 aircraft under SP model but god knows why they took long path when air force is in dire need of aircraft . Yes there is something wrong with the political parties because one took 8 years to did nothing and one is taking small steps when we need it in hurry. I can say opposition parties are making such controversy just because of vote bank and destabilize the present government. This is the beauty of democracy i am not saying both are wrong or right one should understand when it comes to securing borders it should not be the matter of politics. One should decide what kind of politics they want to do. because they are not above the country we have elected them so they can secure our country not to make such controversy because ultimately IAF will suffer.
Yes we need to create Eco system for manufacturing aircraft and other parties should understand this . Supreme Court of India has also given his verdict but by raising questions on court judgement one is making fun of democracy.
Yes according to me present government of India is taking right baby steps but its the responsibility of opposition also to support them because once again elections will take place and after election what will happen no body knows because in India political parties ego are above nation's interest.
I have not into the technical details of the deal which i have gathered through internet so common man understand what is happening with national security.
ONE SHOULD UNDERSTAND NO ONE IS ABOVE NATIONAL INTEREST AND NATIONAL SECURITY.
