Indian Air Force

The decision to appoint CDS is an important milestone in India’s quest for complete integration of its defence forces; a significant step towards seamless coordination, better efficiency, and greater effectiveness of the national defence architecture in meeting the challenges of the 21st century.

• Amb. Sujan R. Chinoy
• August 29, 2019
• IDSA Comments

While the scope of responsibility of the CDS is being worked out, it would be instructive to see what changes could be implemented immediately within the current organisational structures through greater jointness, before getting into the gamut of full integration which should be the logical end state.

• Alok Deb
• August 19, 2019
• IDSA Comments

Is the termination of an unprecedented 40-year production run of the F-16 an indication of the beginning of the end for this versatile combat aircraft?

• Kishore Kumar Khera
• January 19, 2018
• IDSA Comments

To truly exploit this newly tested operational capability, IAF will have to augment its fleet of in-flight refuellers and train an adequate number of aircrew, mission commanders, fighter controllers and systems operators.

• Kishore Kumar Khera
• December 06, 2017
• IDSA Comments

The Indian Air Force’s participation in Israel’s Blue Flag 2017 multilateral exercise adds an important layer to the matrix of cooperation between India and Israel.

• S. Samuel C. Rajiv
• December 01, 2017
• IDSA Comments

The IAF is not without options, all of which are currently at some stage of realization. What is lacking is a sense of urgency on the part of all the parties concerned.

• Sanjay Badri-Maharaj
• November 03, 2017
• Issue Brief

MoD can leapfrog many of the 11 stages in the procurement programme by taking the measures outlined to fulfil the urgent requirements of the Air Force.

• Amit Cowshish
• September 26, 2017
• IDSA Comments

With some innovative thinking, on-line arrangements with suppliers, including the Canteen Stores Department, could reduce the cost of storage and distribution and, more importantly, help in maintaining a high satisfaction level among troops.

• Amit Cowshish
• January 18, 2017
• IDSA Comments

Replacement of the Avro is an approved requirement. Scrapping the on-going process could delay acquisition of the transport aircraft by at least a year or two as it would inevitably involve revisiting the qualitative requirements (QRs) before restarting the tendering process.

• Amit Cowshish
• November 25, 2014
• IDSA Comments

It is difficult to understand why the MoD should bind itself by asking for request for information (RFI) that cannot be compared across all the proposals. What would constitute ‘capability’ and ‘requisite infrastructure’ to license produce the aircraft is a matter of subjective interpretation and therefore, it would become difficult for MoD to assess whether the information provided by a bidder establishes that he/she has the requisite capability/infrastructure.

• Amit Cowshish
• March 19, 2014
• IDSA Comments