IAF’s Fighter Crisis: Is India’s Back To The Wall?

India faces a difficult choice: acquire a foreign fifth-generation fighter, wait for its indigenous AMCA programme, or risk allowing the capability gap to widen further.

The Indian Air Force is confronting a pressing challenge. Its fighter strength stands at around 29 squadrons against a sanctioned requirement of 42, at a time when India must account for the possibility of a two-front conflict involving China and Pakistan. The shortfall is not merely a question of numbers. It affects operational flexibility, sustained air operations, readiness and the ability to absorb losses in a prolonged conflict.

The challenge becomes more acute as China advances its stealth-fighter capabilities with the J-20 and J-35 programmes. Reports of Chinese stealth fighters being offered to Pakistan add another dimension to India’s concerns.

On this week’s Defence Mantra, Nitin A Gokhale examines why India’s fighter-capability challenge demands urgent attention. The debate over the American F-35 and Russian Su-57 is not simply about aircraft performance. It involves technology access, supply-chain reliability, interoperability and the diplomatic consequences of choosing a platform from either country. India’s existing Russian-origin aircraft fleet and S-400 air-defence system, alongside its expanding defence relationship with the United States, complicate the decision further.

India’s indigenous AMCA programme offers a path towards greater technological autonomy, but timelines remain a concern. Developing an advanced fighter engine is among the most demanding challenges in aerospace engineering. India’s experience with the Kaveri engine and its continuing dependence on imported engines underline the scale of the task.

The IAF’s declining squadron strength also raises questions about procurement delays, the pace of Tejas Mk1A deliveries and the long-term consequences of retiring older aircraft without replacements arriving in sufficient numbers.

The discussion also examines the role of drones and loitering munitions. Rather than treating them as a substitute for conventional fighters, how should they be integrated into a networked air-combat architecture?

India’s dilemma is stark: it needs to strengthen its air power urgently without compromising the technological autonomy it hopes to achieve. With operational requirements pressing and indigenous capabilities still developing, the room for delay is narrowing.