A look at the Indian Air Force Fighter Jets

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force has aircraft and equipment of Russia, British, French, Israeli, U.S. and Indian origins with Russian aircraft dominating its inventory. The primary role of the fighter aircraft in the Indian Air Force inventory is to achieve and maintain air supremacy over the battle field thus Indian Air Force has always protected the nation at different required times. We just thought to take a look at the active fighter jet fleet of our Indian Air Force to know how safe we are at its end, in case a war situation arises. Here is the list of Fighter jets of Indian Air Force:1. Sukhoi Su-30MKIThe Sukhoi Su-30MKI is an air superiority fighter jointly developed by Russia's Sukhoi and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF). It is a heavy, all-weather, long-range fighter.Development of the variant started after India signed a deal with Russia in 2000 to manufacture 140 Su-30 fighter jets. The first Russian-made Su-30MKI variant was accepted into the Indian Air Force in 2002, while the first indigenously assembled Su-30MKI entered service with the IAF in 2004.In 2007, the IAF ordered 40 additional MKIs. The IAF has 157 Su-30MKIs in service as of January 2013. It plans to have a fleet of 272. The Su-30MKI is expected to form the backbone of the Indian Air Force's fighter fleet to 2020 and beyond.2. Mikoyan MiG-29The Mikoyan MiG-29 is a fourth-generation jet fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s. India was the first international customer of the MiG-29. The Indian Air Force (IAF) placed an order for more than 50 MiG-29s in 1980 while the aircraft was still in its initial development phase. Since its induction into the IAF in 1985, the aircraft has undergone a series of modifications with the addition of new avionics, sub-systems, turbofan engines and radars. The upgraded Indian version is known as Baaz (Hindi for Hawk) and forms a crucial component of the second-line offensive aircraft-fleet of the IAF after the Sukhoi Su-30MKI The upgrades to Indian MiG-29s will be to the MiG-29UPG standard. This version is similar to the SMT variant but differs by having a foreign-made avionics suite. The upgrade to latest MiG-29UPG standard is in process, which will include latest avionics, Zhuk-ME Radar, engine, weapon control systems, enhancing multirole capabilities by many-fold. As of 2012, Indian UPG version is the most advanced MiG-29 variant. The Director-General of MiG, Sergei Korotkov said, “The most advanced is the MiG-29UPG, implemented in India in collaboration with local industry”.RAC MiG has upgraded the first six MiG-29UPG fighters for India by October 2012. The first three aircraft were delivered in December 2012, over two years behind schedule. 3. Dassault Mirage 2000The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. IAF purchased 49 Mirage 2000s, including 42 single-seaters and 7 two-seaters in the 1980s. In 2004, the Indian government approved purchase of ten more Mirage 2000Hs, featuring improved avionics, particularly an upgraded RDM 7 radar. The IAF named the Mirage the “Vajra” .India also purchased appropriate stores along with the fighters, including ATLIS II pods and laser-guided weapons.In 2006 it was reported that the Indian Air Force was close to finalizing a EUR 1.5 billion (about $2 billion) deal to upgrade its fleet of 51 Mirage-2000 ‘Vajra' fighter jets. The aim was to give the aircraft more capabilities, bringing them to Mirage 2000-5 Mk 2 standard, and extending its useful life for another 20–25 years. The contract has been signed in 2011. India has assigned the nuclear strike role to its Mirage 2000 squadrons in service with the Indian Air Force (IAF) since 1985. In 1999 when the Kargil conflict broke out, the Mirage 2000 performed remarkably well during the whole conflict in the high Himalayas, even though the Mirages supplied to India had limited air interdiction capability and had to be heavily modified to drop laser-guided bombs as well as conventional unguided bombs. Two Mirage squadrons flew a total of 515 sorties, and in 240 strike missions dropped 55,000 kg (120,000 lb) of ordnance. Easy maintenance and a very high sortie rate made the Mirage 2000 one of the most efficient fighters of the IAF in the conflict. There are reports that the IAF qualified Soviet-designed missiles with the Mirage 2000, such as the R-27 (NATO AA-10 Alamo) AAM. In July 2011, India approved an $3 billion upgrade to its entire Mirage 2000 fleet and for over 400 MICA missiles.One of the two seat trainer versions crashed on 25 February 2012, another two seat version crashed on 5 March 2012. 4. HAL TejasThe HAL Tejas is a lightweight multirole fighter developed by India. It is a tailless, compound delta-wing design powered by a single engine. It came from the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, which began in the 1980s to replace India's ageing MiG-21 fighters. The first production variant of the Tejas (LSP-1) flew on June 2008. The Tejas completed 1,000 test flights by January 2009 with more than 530 hours of inflight testing. It achieved a speed of over 1,350 kilometres per hour (840 mph) during its sea level flight trials in 2009.By June 2010, the Tejas had also completed the second phase of hot weather trials. The objective of the hot weather trials was to prove that the aircraft was in an IOC configuration with the weapon system and sensors integrated. The sea trials of the aircraft are also being carried out.LSP-5 with IOC standard equipment took to skies on 19 November 2010.The trainer variant prototype took to the skies in November 2009. In December 2009, the Indian government sanctioned 8,000 crore (US$1.46 billion) to begin production of the fighter jet for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. The Indian Navy has a requirement of 50 Tejas aircraft and the first prototype, NP-1 was rolled out in July 2010.Initial Operating Clearance (IOC) for the Tejas was awarded on 10 January 2011 by Defence Minister A K Antony to Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal P V Naik. IOC allows IAF pilots to use the aircraft. The IAF plans to raise the first squadron in Bengaluru to iron out issues with ADA and HAL, and eventually base these fighters at Sulur Air Force Base, Coimbatore in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The first squadron is expected to be established by 2013.The IAF officially accepted its first Tejas fighter on 21 March 2011. The Tejas is planned to be cleared for operational service by late 2012. The weapon tests including bombing begun in September 2011 at Pokhran range, to be followed by missile firing tests at Goa.Tejas' Final Operational Clearance (FOC) has reportedly been delayed until mid-2013 or later.The Tejas program has enlisted EADS to help expand the flight envelope to meet service requirements. RAFAEL's Derby fire-and-forget missile will serve as the Tejas' initial medium range air-air armament.The Tejas has completed 1,828 test flights by 16 April 2012. The Naval LCA made its first flight, almost two years after being rolled out, on 27 April 2012.