'Atma Nirbharta' can't come at cost of national defence: IAF Vice Chief A P Singh

New Delhi: Short of weapons, a top Indian Air Force official on Friday said Atma-nirbharta (self reliance) can not come at the cost of national defence as the capability gap between India and her adversaries are growing continuously.

"Atma Nirbharta can’t be achieved at the cost of our national security. The rate at which our adversaries are building their numbers while imbibing new technologies, the capability gap is continuously growing," Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal A P Singh said here.

The critical comments from the IAF Vice Chief comes at a time when the force is operating only 32 squadrons of fighter jets instead of its sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons.

The squadron strength is set to go down further in a year’s time with the retirement of the last two MiG-21BIS squadrons, but there is no sign of the delivery of the first home made Tejas LCA Mk-1A on the horizon. An earlier proposal to buy over 100 medium multi role aircraft as a replacement of the MiGs appears to have been put on the back burner.

“Nation's defence comes first and foremost and if Indian Air Force or Indian forces have to ride on this atma-nirbharta, it is only possible if everyone, from Defence Research and Defence Organisation to defence public sector units and the private industry holds the hand and takes us to that path and don't let us deviate from that path,” Air Marshal Singh said addressing a seminar at the Centre for Air Power Studies.

The Vice Chief said there would be compulsions on the part of the forces to “deviate” from the path of self-reliance, if the force didn’t get the weapons and systems it requires to survive.

“If we have to defend the nation, it is everybody's job. It is not just the job of a person in uniform,” he said, urging the industry and research agencies to work on “out of the box solutions” and “increase capability as well as capacity”.

Sources said Bengaluru-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited was to deliver the first of the 83 LCA Mk-1A by March end, but could not do so because of the US major GE’s failure to supply the engines in time.

Singh said the IAF had been working with the DRDO and private industry to bolster capabilities in radars, surface to air guided weapon systems and counter unmanned aircraft weapons for soft as well as hard kill.

“We have a credible and comprehensive networked air defence. Impetus is also being given in the fields of directed energy weapons, close-in weapon systems, CCD (Camouflage Concealment and Deception) and modernising our aerial platforms. The IAF has ongoing air defence contracts worth Rs 112,000 crores with another 275,000 crores worth contracts in the pipeline,” he added.