Vibhas Pande, Air Officer commanding-in-chief, Maintenance Command, has stated that the Indian Air Force has achieved 95-97 percent self-reliance in daily requirements and is working towards realizing the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Aatmnirbhar Bharat.’
Pande mentioned, “Our dependency on Sukhoi-30 is on HAL, and we have indigenized MIG-29 significantly. The Russia-Ukraine war hasn’t affected the MIG-29. In Sukhoi-30, with HAL’s support, we’ve sustained the fleet well. However, if the conflict persists and Russian support ceases, it may have some effects. As of now, due to the stalking policy for long-term storage, it hasn’t affected us.”
“We have achieved 95-97 percent self-reliance in daily requirements. For those requiring advanced technology, we are still working on it, but it will take time as this involves complex technology with many critical calculations,” he added.
He further mentioned that the upgrade program of MIG-29 has been completed without the support of the Russian side. “We will have to give a little more thrust to our indigenization and work harder to achieve our PM’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Right now, the plan is to manufacture the spare parts required by us in our country as soon as possible.
While this conflict started, both these agencies (BRD and HAL) also provided new impetus for the development of these needed spares. You will be happy to know that the upgrade program of MIG-29 has actually been completed without complete supply from the Russian side,” Vibhas Pande said.
He also added that the Indian Air Force is in need of Tejas Aircraft, and the delivery for the same will begin from 2024. “Tejas is a stealth aircraft, and its delivery is to begin from 2024. The Air Force is in constant dialogue with HAL as we need more and more planes.
We are trying to get the Aircraft built and handed over to us as soon as possible so that we can increase our operational capability. We started the work of indigenization together with MSMEs since the dissolution of the USSR in the ‘90s. And now, the spare parts of our Automatic Replacement system, which are used on a daily basis, are 97 percent ‘Made in India’ as of today. For that, we do not depend on any foreign country,” he added.
