If I were IAF…I would just move onto R&D on 6th Gen remotely piloted full fighter aircraft. There is no point rehashing this stealth nonsense, which does not work. The F-35 program is seriously overpriced planes that consumed billions in R&D.
‘IAF and HAL and foreign allies need to sit together and lay down the specs of how a future air combat may look like:
- cheaper, expendable planes
- swarm attacks
- remotely piloted for most part
- AI aided decision making for flight paths, weapons trajectory, target acquisition
- modular. Mid-air reconfiguration by joining/separating smaller planes for different tasks
- kamikaze mode with devastating impact
- as much radar evasion as possible or ability to fool the radar
- landable anywhere - on ships, land, water
- massively networked warfare. Think about Ender’s Game type situation.
What we need is a massive leap in air force technology, not this stealth nonsense that PLAAF has been peddling, which does not work.
The entire air engagement has to be reinvented. Between our private sector, DRDO and our foreign partners we have the manpower and expertise to make this happen. The only Q is do we have the vision to set such game changing specifications, allot a budget for it, and work to achieve that. Only a driven entrepreneur from private sector can make this happen. If we can do a PPP on such advanced programs, we would have built some far advanced industrial ecosystems. Basically this is the “go big or go home” philosophy.
At some point we have to identify 1 or 2 far futuristic programs and pursue technology development to achieve that. Right now our strategy is to “catch-up to the west” and I don’t think this vision is ambitious enough. We can go much beyond.
