India has a worsening fighter plane gap; how should it manage it?

Will the controversy over Rafale further slow down the defence ministry's procurement process?

The unfolding controversy over the Rafale fighter throws up a deeply worrying question, quite separate from the Opposition’s vocal charge that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government arbitrarily bought too few aircraft, for too high a cost, to benefit a particular industrialist. The question is this: Will the political name-calling, court cases, audits and investigations around the Rafale further clog the defence ministry’s already ponderous decision-making and bring fighter aircraft procurements to a complete standstill? Does the Indian Air Force (IAF), which already makes do with just 31 fighter squadrons against an assessed requirement of 42, now stare at the