Falling short: why India’s domestic fighter programmes must hit ambitious targets
With its combat fleet size in decline, the Indian air force is counting on domestic programmes to recapitalise its fighter inventory from the end of this decade.
www.flightglobal.com
India’s armed forces are faced with the reality of a still-nascent domestic aerospace and defence industry that is struggling to deliver top-shelf equipment. Meanwhile, onerous transfer of technology requirements and local manufacturing demands associated with foreign aircraft and weapon purchases have often increased procurement costs without delivering any long term benefits.
According to figures released by India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) in July 2022, indigenous content levels on
1. Tejas Mk1/Mk1A fighter (slightly more than 53%),
2. Dhruv utility helicopter (almost 56%),
3. Light Combat Helicopter (54%) and
4. Light Utility Helicopter (52%).
5. Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter 51%
6. Dornier 228 light transport 44%
“The great pitfall with relying on indigenous platforms is that most of the value goes to foreign contractors, who then have total control over exports and production,”
says AeroDynamic Advisory managing director Richard Aboulafia.
“The alternative is to create vertically-integrated national systems, which guarantee systems mediocrity and final result mediocrity. There’s a reason Tejas isn’t powered by the [indigenous] Kaveri engine,” Aboulafia notes.