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IAF to acquire in-flight refuelling for fighter bombers |
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The Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to acquire an in-flight refuelling capability for its fighter-bombers. Former Air Chief S K Sareen said this would enable fighter-bombers cover an area from Beijing to the Persian Gulf. India is getting six Ilyushin-78 Midas tanker aircraft from Uzbekistan to give its Air Force this strategic edge.
An acknowledged force multiplier, the Il-78 will give a fighter like the IAF’s Su-30 MKI the potential to fly continuously for over 10 hours with two aerial refuellings, and do sorties aggregating 9,000 km. During the Gulf War, a similar facility enabled the US to fly some of its aircraft for over 10 hours on the trot without landing.
Given India’s threat matrix, this acquisition translates into enhanced capability against China, should a deployment against it become necessary. When Sareen mooted the idea in 1996, the Ministry of Defence had ticked him off, arguing that this capability would “upset the geo-political situation”. Experts see a potent combination of SU-30 MKI air superiority fighters, the aerial refuellers and the Air-borne Early Warning and Control Systems aircraft (which India seeks to acquire) in the IAF.
The IAF’s Vision 2020 document envisages at least 10 squadrons of the SU-30s, rated as one of the world’s best, out of 55 squadrons by 2020. “This (refuelling) will enable extended reach and longer patrol time for air defence fighters. But range is just one aspect. Fighter aircraft will be in the air longer and thus perform more than one mission without having to land and take off repeatedly. “This will save time, and economise in terms of aircraft, pilots and air and ground crews. Hence, force-multiplication,” said Sareen.
The operational benefit is that fighter-bombers on a long-range mission need not take off from an airfield close to the border, which may be vulnerable to enemy attack. Airborne fighters only need to be refuelled before they exit Indian airspace. “Even to secure Indian interests, this is beneficial. The Andaman and Nicobar territories, for instance, can be covered by a squadron at, say, Nagpur,” said the former Air Chief.
The Il-78M is a modified version of the Il-76 military transport aircraft. Manufactured at the Tashkent Aircraft Factory, it carries 35 tonnes of fuel in its three tanks, and can service two airborne aircraft simultaneously at the rate of 2,200 litres a minute. It has been with the Russian Air Force since 1987, and its Nato counterpart is the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter (1964). It has a range of over 5,000 km.
Defence analyst Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak said India needed 12 re-fuellers. But, he said, it had its limitations too. “It can be used only on the user’s side of the border, as it would be vulnerable to attack outside. The reach element cannot be overstressed because of the pilot fatigue factor, and the paraphernalia of air defence escorts and electronic jammers on any deep penetration mission.”
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