Indian Air Force chief laments too many different aircraft

Tender for 114 fighters may bring in even wider variety of aircraft

The Indian Air Force (IAF) currently operates 39 different aircraft with origins in six different countries, pointed out Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari on Tuesday. This, he said, makes inventory management a big challenge.

What the IAF chief, however, didn’t say is that a current air force tender for 114 “multi-role combat aircraft” (MRCA) made it likely that the force may soon have a seventh fighter type on its inventory.

The tender is likely to obtain responses from eight fighters: Boeing (F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and F-15EX), Sukhoi (Su-35), RAC MiG (MiG-35), Eurofighter (Typhoon), Lockheed Martin (F-21), Saab (Gripen E) and Dassault