The quote in this article is inaccurateBharadwaj wrote:http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... 061609.ece
Hindu reporting order will be done in 5 months...
Su-30 266 Aircraft I think will form 14-15 AqaudronsAccording to official figures, 14 squadrons of the MiG 21, MiG 27 and MiG 29 are due for retirement in the next 10 years which will bring down the fighter squadron strength to 19 by 2027 from the current 33.
Jaguars will form 5 squadrons
M-2000 - 3 squadrons
Rafale -2 Squadrons
LCA IOC- FOC 2 Squadrons
ANd I dont the Mig-29's for which the upgrades are not yet complete will be retired by 2027- 3 squadrons.
And with this 83 Mk 1A, it will be 4 more squadrons by 2027. Hopefully more Su-30, FGFA will be ordered, and plus 2 more Rafale Squadrons.
I see IAF should be at around 33 + 2 Rafale + 2 More SU-30 plus 2 FGFA. IAF will most probably be at 39 Squadrons by 2027.
Hopefully with FGFA, AMCA, LCA Mk1- 1A, LCA MK2, we can address the retirement of Mig 29, M-2000, Jaguars retiring.
Another intersting point if there are 14 Squadrons of Mig 21 Bision, Mig 21 MF, Mig 27 H and Mig 29, it would indicate
1. Atleast 80 upgraded Mig 27H and how does the remaining squadrons add only to 19. There should be atleast 12 Squadrons of Su-30, 3 Squadrons of M -2000 and 5-6 Squadrons of Jaguar IS and IM AIrcraft. Which comes to 20-21 Squadrons.
Anyways hope that production of LCA/LCA Mk2 takes off and we can have 55 squadron strength by 2030- wish, double wish.
I am still thinking about the existing fleet, there were about 150 Mig 27's in 2010, In between 2015-18 we are retiring 3 sqaudrons of these. So there should around 90 upgraded Mig 27's. We should be having about 116 Jaguars and then around 110 Mig 21 Bisons, 48 M-2000, 60-65 Mig 29 and 236 Su-30.
That means a current fleet strength is around 640-650 fighters. Offcourse some of the M-2000, Jaguars, Mig 29's in the process of upgrade will not be available say 50 aircraft. given 65% fleet uptime means we cant present throw around 400 aircraft in combat. Pakis have 75 F-16, 100 JF 17, 70 Mirage 3 and about 50 F7 trainers and 30 F-7Pg.so They can effectively bring 200 fighters into combat.