Amid the growing air power of China and Pakistan and the shortage of fighter aircraft faced by the Indian Air Force, the Defence Ministry has formed a high-level committee under Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh to look into the overall capability development of the service through indigenous design, development and acquisition projects.

Government officials told ANI that the committee was formed after the Indian Air Force made detailed presentations to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during the Air Force Commanders’ Conference last month in the national capital.

During the conference, the top Defence Ministry functionaries were briefed about the futuristic combat aircraft requirements along with the gaps required to be filled in the capability that the force wants to have in the coming times to tackle the threat perception faced on both the fronts.

The officials said the committee has other senior members of the Defence Ministry, including the Secretary (Defence Production), Sanjeev Kumar; Defence Research and Development Organisation chief Dr Samir V Kamat; and Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal T Singh, who is the committee’s member secretary.

The Secretary of Defence Finance also attended the first meeting of the committee that took place last week.

The committee is expected to submit its report to the Defence Minister in the next two to three months with a detailed assessment of the requirements of the force.

The Indian Air Force has been able to induct only 36 new Rafale aircraft under the 4.5-plus generation of fighter aircraft that it wants in significant numbers to tackle the threat mainly posed by China, which is also supplying arms and equipment to the Pakistan Air Force.

The Chinese are now also likely to provide fighter aircraft to the Bangladesh Air Force, where the new government is not seen as friendly to India.

The Indian Air Force’s plans of acquiring over 110 fighter aircraft of the 4.5-plus generation capability have been pending for some time with the government, and the committee may suggest a way to address the requirement through the indigenous route.

The gap in weaponry on the aircraft in terms of all types of air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles has also been widening vis-a-vis the northern adversary.

The long-range surface-to-surface missile systems with the Chinese forces are also believed to have longer ranges and are in much higher numbers than what is possessed by the Indian forces.

The Indian Air Force has been relying mainly on the indigenous projects for its future capability development, but the LCA Mark 1A project has been hit by delays due to supply chain issues faced by the supplier GE of the US.

The Indian Air Force’s plans to have 114 fighter aircraft made in India by Indian manufacturers in collaboration with foreign original equipment manufacturers to fulfil the capability gap.

The IAF has already stated that it favours all its major future acquisitions to be built through indigenous routes only.