Oct 25, 2003 12:02 AM
6497 Views
(Updated Oct 25, 2003 12:04 AM)
With the news of the crashes of the MIG-21s in the last year and around, our Air Force has developed a bad reputation in the mind of the common man.
But this should not lead us to forget that we have the 4th LARGEST AIR FORCE IN THE WORLD.
Due to the presence of hostile neighbours, India is bound to make its defence force a BIG and EFFECTIVE one.
China has the largest air force, followed by Russia, America and India.
We have more than 2500 aircrafts in the Air Force (including Transport and Reckoning). We have a sufficient number of flying personnel. But there are many problems too:
LACK OF TRAINING
Our training procedures are NOT up to the mark. At first, the pilots are trained at aircrafts which have a speed of 400km/hr. In the next process they are made to sit on the MIG-21 which is a supersonic aircraft having a speed of 2100km/hr. This is a very huge gap.
And this, leads to mishaps.
HANDLING OF AIRCRAFTS
Aircrafts are dealt in a very bad way. Some of MIG-21s are kept unused for 6 months. A test pilot flies it after 6 months - points out the faults. The faults are repaired and the plane is kept. In this process, the planes are made to be OK just theoritically. In actual flight, they dont perform the way they are supposed to.
We have a notorious scarcity of spare parts. Thus the servicing often remains stunted. This is because of our Politics, discussed later.
INEFFICIENT ADMINISTRATION
Our administration is very very poor. We have many plans. We set deadlines, which are always extended by atleast a DECADE.
The LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) was a very promising project for us. But it has not yet come under actual light. This would have enabled us to have much more effectivity and agility in air combat.
The MCA (Medium Combat Aircraft) is a project not even known to many people. It is supposed to be a ''STEALTH'' aircraft. This technology helps an aircraft to hide from RADARs. The technology is not yet 100% proved. This project, when complete, would be a giant leap in our Defenses.
Their is yet another project due:
AWACS. Actually this is an aircraft which has a radar(usually of a better quality and range than normal - 360 degrees) on it. The radar being on a plane, can be placed at higher altitudes and thus can alert of hostile acts much accurately. If we succeed in completing this process, our country would become one of the most difficult (in the best sense of the word) force to reckon with.
