The light fighter debacle

It shows how dysfunctional procurement hamstrings military

Among many other things, the new Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, would do well to study the long-running procurement of a single-engine, light fighter for the Indian Air Force (IAF) to understand how dysfunctional procurement hamstrings the military. Friday’s announcement by Swedish company Saab and the Adani Group to build the Gripen E single-engine fighter in India followed a similar tie-up in June between US-major Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) to build the F-16 Block 70 fighter and has brought the wheel full circle from 1999 when the IAF demanded 126 combat aircraft to replace its ageing fleet