The number of military aircraft in the country will soon increase to 2,000 from the present 1,400, thus opening up more opportunities for the MSME sector in repair and overhaul, a senior IAF officer said on Friday. There will be a huge requirement of aircraft in the next 10 to 20 years in military aviation of the country, said Air Marshall R K S Shera, Air Officer Maintenance of the IAF.
“The number is going to blow up from whatever we have today at 1,400, it will rise to 2,000 soon,” he said at a program here. The induction of medium transport aircraft, Airbus C295, in the IAF will begin soon, he said adding that the force has already inducted Rafale fighter jets from Dassault Aviation of France.
Apart from these, a large number of unmanned aerial vehicles, drones, and various other machines are to be acquired in the military sector, Shera, who heads the Maintenance Command of the IAF, said. “The requirement of repair and overhaul of these aircraft and machines will go up and up,” he said.
Shera said that to service and keep the machines airworthy, there is a huge opportunity for the Indian MSME sector in the manufacturing of materials, tools, and development of automated technologies. “It is not only the number of aircraft. It is also the complex technologies that are going to come to our country for which we need the right kind of academia and the industry backup so that we become more self-reliant and indigenous,” he said.
