Plans are in place for acquisition of new aircrafts :IAF chief Raha

Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha today said all the plans are in place and a lot of activity is going on for new acquisitions to replace old aircraft. He said the plans for induction of combat aircraft relates to issues with legacies of some of the fleets which need to be replaced which, for obvious reasons, as they cannot carry on for long and all plans are in place and process was underway to replace old aircraft. As the deal for the acquisition of 126 MMRCAs could not fructify, the Chief of Air Staff said the decision was taken for acquisition of 36 Rafales 'in fly away condition' to meet the urgent requirement of the IAF which he described as, "a very good step''.
 It (acquisition of 36 Rafale jet fighter) is being progress rapidly on fast track so that whatever was stated towards this acquisition of 36 aircraft materialised in the quickest possible time. I am very hopeful that it will be through much faster than the normal process that it takes. It will actually filled some voids but off course we have some more requirements, he added. On the indigenously developed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, which is facing a lot of turbulence from its critics, the Chief of Air Staff , expressed hoped that Tejas would meet some of the immediate requirements of the Indian Air Force. Air Chief Marshal Raha said, "Tejas is a very good bet. We need to go indigenous ,even though it may not be the best in the world it will be able to meet some of our requirements. The LCA Tejas, he maintained will be one of our mainstays, adding, a very large number of SU 30s actually forming the backbone of the IAF.

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