Fighter aircraft security in India

[Brood Father]

I just found one of the most gravest and serious concern of our national security , I thought a lot about posting this in a public forum but then I saw that this concern is best resolved when addressed
Our attack fighters are at very high risk of exposure , personally I have seen them standing without shade and open in civilian airport
There is always a high risk of some antinational element to exploit this condition and moreover we cannot let out frontline fighters standing without shade in 40 degree celcius
With this forum I want to convey a message to our air force official that please take care of this before its too late
PS .please avoid the name of aircraft and its location

 

[Brood Father]

@ersakthivel , @pmaitra , @Mad Indian , @Yumdoot , @Pulkit ,@roma , @p2prada , @Kunal Biswas , @Yusuf , @Rowdy , @Rashna , @kafir kaur
Please add if I have missed any

 

[Mad Indian]

I have no idea about the technicalities of the aircraft maintainance dude. But regarding safety, I think you might have a point though no idea what we can do about it

 

[Yusuf]

Depends on what and where you saw. Fighters have to be on standby so that we can scramble them in matter of minutes if there is a threat. You can't have them stored safely underground or something

 

[Yumdoot]

Scramble times is a compelling need. But I don't think they will have aircrafts out on the tarmak without AAMs if there was a compelling need. And the aircrafts that get seen by civilians, more often then not are without AAMs. Only dedicated planespotters will be able to ID an aircraft on alert. I would expect bases like Hindon to be used for such work which is not very frequented by civilians. The old style mindset for physical infrastructure security is still very much there. A western country may allow fully prepared aircrafts on alert to be witnessed by civilians but I doubt if Indian establishment will allow that.

Having said that the infrastructure of the bases is already quite good and if the aircrafts get seen outside then there must be some acceptable logic to it. IAF is working hard at improving the bases infrastructure even more. So this should not be a matter of paucity of hangers etc.

Could be some other reason that escapes us.

 

[abingdonboy]

I just found one of the most gravest and serious concern of our national security , I thought a lot about posting this in a public forum but then I saw that this concern is best resolved when addressed
Our attack fighters are at very high risk of exposure , personally I have seen them standing without shade and open in civilian airport
There is always a high risk of some antinational element to exploit this condition and moreover we cannot let out frontline fighters standing without shade in 40 degree celcius
With this forum I want to convey a message to our air force official that please take care of this before its too late
PS .please avoid the name of aircraft and its location

It depends when and where you saw them. If it was at a civilian airport it is possible they were transiting through. A few hours in the sun with the right precautions taken is nothing to be alarmed about at all. There is something called the "flight line" in aviation where a/c are parked in the open.

If they are in the open it is possible they are scheduled to be taken for flying duties that day and when not in use (at night) will be taken back into their hangers.

As for operational security, just because you didn't see any doesn't mean it wasn't there. All fighter a/c in the IAF have airmen dedicated to their physical security when not deployed to an IAF base. My friend is a plane spotter who went down to RAF Coningsby when the IAF were here in July and he told me that there was lots of talk of the IAF not being happy that civilians (plane spotters) could get so close to their assets and that when parked up the IAF personal kept everyone (including the RAF) at a distance. The ground crews are responsible for their aircraft 100%, they sign off (literally) that it is in top condition and has not been been interfered with before every flight.



There is no need to be so alarmed about what you saw.

 

[Brood Father]

I hope so , however I was disappointed with the security , gentleman next to my seat was busy taking photographs of those beautiful plane , when I questioned him , he snapped me back , luckily air hostess came for the rescue and forced him to delete photographs , so I am very skeptical.
Then I decided to that I need to do something about it and this was the only forum I that can make a difference
If you guys want I can disclose the name of the airport where I find this threat in one to one message

 

[Brood Father]

Atleast now shouldn't we have a proper solution
I posted this thread for our security , question is now what we do?
@Yusuf , @Kunal Biswas , @pmaitra
please suggest
It's high time to overlook this situation

 

[pmaitra]

Folks, this news might be relevant here:

Shelterless Sukhois suffering from sunstroke?