Recent developments between the defense ministry of Russia and Pak army on deals of Attack Helicopters and acquisition of SU 35- Next generation Fighter aircraft are really cause of worry. India is still flying Mig 21 Bison and in the Kargil war we have seen how poorly Migs performed and two of them were shot down by Paki soldiers very easily. We lost one of our Air warrior and second one was captured. It was very painful. Still we have not understood the need to modernise our airforce. Pakistan is building it's airforce by leap and bounds. They are operating F16, J7, J17, Mirage S and now in the process of acquiring SU 35. Acquisition of SU 35 will be a game changer. Its a twin engine high performance fighter aircraft. It flies at the speed of around 1600 km/h which is highest among its class. And cost of $65 million a piece make it very, very potent. F22 Raptor of US in the same category cost around $ 135 million. The cooperation of Russia with Pakistan is going to have long term impact on Indian defense preparations. Fighter Aircraft Ratio of India to Pak is now at the lowest at around 1.2-1.6 (according to different defense experts )
Delay in finalising deal of Rafel and later downsizing of our order from 126 to 36 is unfortunate. Tejas is still not fully deployed. In case of war we shall be short of aircrafts. Su 30 Pak MKI is the only silver lining. But SU 30 can be used only for strategic purposes. We need single engine short range advanced fighter aircrafts. Jaguars, Mirage, Migs all have lived their lives. There is immediate need to replace aging fighter aircrafts. Migs are going to become sitting ducks and hardly one or two poor countries are operating them. MIG 21 is a vintage fighter aircraft. We cannot challenge even a small country like Pakistan with these old aircrafts. Tejas has yet to prove its worthiness. Pakistan is buying 3-5 attack helicopters from Russia and they have already ordered for it. US is helping Pakistan by supplying top of the line Viper attack Helicopter to fight against terrorist, and we know that it will be used against India than terrorists. The situation of airforce acquisition is not good. We should have retired the old fighter aircrafts till now. But we are spending more on their maintenance than up gradation to new generation fighter aircrafts. This cannot be understood by the Babus and our illiterate political leaders and then they expect soldiers to win war for them. Pakistan well understand the weakness of our leadership and exploiting it 