21st century is home to one of the most sophisticated and unimaginable conflicts. Survival is the ultimate need of societies now. For this purpose, mankind jumped into a weapon race and the genesis of arm became an utmost urgency. When it comes to innovation in the industry of weapons 20th century is credited for its top-of-the-line inventions. Before the start of world war 1, Sea Power was the ultimate key for the states to maintain their hegemony in regions. As aviation made its way into the globe, the key to hegemony began to shift from sea to Air. After the end of World War 2, Aviation reached new peaks of technology. Aircraft were shifted from propellers to jet engines and supersonic models. Radars and new tracking and jamming systems were introduced that took aerial combat to new heights of complications.
Aerial combat in this contemporary world is at the peak. Aviation industries around the world are trying their best to make tough combat machines with top-of-the-line reliability. The need for time is filled by these weapon industries. Arms are now a part of trade and are a source of revenue for most countries in the world. In a bird’s eye view, more than 50 % of arms export comes from only two countries such as Russia and US. The USA held 33 % of global arms export while on the other hand, Russians made their way to 20%. As long as the conflict continues, It is quite clear that these countries are not going to shift their focus from weapon manufacturing.
India is home to 1.36 billion people. The state has the most growing economy in 2021. On the other hand, India is not on good ties with its two neighbors such as China and Pakistan. Existing in a tri-nuclear region procurement of up-to-date weapons is believed as the ultimate need of India. In 2021, India was the second-largest importer of weapons. It shared more than 9% of global weapon imports. Its main supplier is Russia, France, and Israel. Roughly 40 % of total Russian arms exports go to India making it the main supplier of weapons of the Indian military. India mostly imports fighter jets, Tanks, and armed vehicles. While France and Israel are the exporters of Drones and other sophisticated military technology to the Indian force. Russia being the second-largest exporter of weapons makes the backbone of Indian aerial power. Russian aviation supplies to India include SU-30, Migs, Mi-17s, Mi-24, Ilyushin, and other models of Antanov. So it can be deemed from these factors that the Indian Air force, Indian Army aviation, and Indian Naval Air Arms; all are dependent on Russian weaponry. In addition to this, Russian Armexports go to 47 other countries. Their clients are spread all over the world. From Africa, South America to the middle east and central Asia Russian weapons are hailed.
So before proceeding to the main theme of this study a question arises what makes Russian armaments so common in this weapon market. First of all, it’s about the price-to-product ratio. Russian weapons are very price competent as compared to the American and western weapons. Their reliability is attracting clients. This fact is so solid that the second-largest importer of Russian armaments ‘’The Chinese Dragon’’ is the 4th largest exporter of weapons itself. China being the second-largest importer of Russian weapons has a history of weapon trades with Russia. Their ace Fighter Jets are based on Russian models such as the J-11 Multi-Role Fighter jet. In addition to this, countries with trembling economies and long history of wars are fighting one of the most complex battles of their own kind by relying on the Russian weapon system. Air Forces of Syria and Nigeria are dependent on Russian ground support aircraft to fight their war against terrorism. The low budget maintenance of these Russian Aircraft allows these countries to maintain their foot in the battle against these terrorist groups. But on the other hand, there is some unhappy customer or in other words, a client that is even unable to maintain the repute of Russian war inventory. With a long history of Crashes and losses in the battle against its traditional foe ‘’Pakistan’’; Indian Air Force poses a fair threat to the Russian weapon market. Even after having top-of-the-line ace fighter jets of Russian inventory; It can be easily spectated that Indian Aerial Forces failed to prove their mettle and maintain a solid legacy aerial competency.
When it comes to wars between India and its longstanding traditional foe Pakistan; IAF was outgunned by the Pakistani pilots. In the wars of 1965 IAF fighter Jets were seen falling from the sky. The famous kills of British-made Gnat Fighter jets by Pakistani Hero Pilot MM Alam remain a record to this day. Even in the War of 1971, India outnumbered Pakistan from an 8 to 1 ratio but still, PAF left a series of question marks on the efficiency of Indian pilots. In the 1999 Kargil war, India again lost 3 aircraft without causing any damage to the Pakistani Air force. No doubt, this is only the history of active combats involving Russian and Non-Russian Aircrafts IAF used. In this 21st century, there is still much more to be witnessed.
A couple of years ago,the Indian Minister of state for defense affairs Shripad Naik told Lok-Sahaba (Lower House of Indian government) that 44 Indian aircraft have crashed since 2014. In a break-up, these crashes included 26 fighter jets, Six Helicopters, Nine trainers, and three transport aircraft. In all these series of incidents Mostly Russian aircraft were involved. Mig-21 Bison is another Russian imported fighter jet that makes the bulk of IAF. In 2012 Indian defense minister told astonished Parliament that half of the 827 Migs were lost. In addition to this Indian Naval Air Arm is also on the hit of Critique, as the newly acquired Russian Mig-29K, a 4 Generation Plus Carrier-based fighter Jet began to crash one after another causing the deaths of Indian pilots.
The year 2019 clearly showed, that nothing has much changed for the Indian air force despite hundreds of reforms. Inthe almost first half of the year, IAF lost roughly a dozen aircraft out of which most were Russian Made. At the early start of the year, IAF lost 3 aircraft in two different incidents. A couple of weeks later it was miserably outgunned by the Pakistani Air Force during the Indo-Pak Tensions 2019. Adding fuel to the fire, IAF was seen panicked when they downed another IAF helicopter in a friendly fire that was on a rescue mission to trace and recover Indian pilots of ill-fated SU-30 and Mig-21 bison who were bashed by Pakistani fighter jets. Keeping in sight the future incidents of 2019, A big question mark was raised on the Competency of IAF.
So a question arises, what is the reason behind the Indian birds falling out of the sky one after another? Is it really with the Russian Weapon Technology or the ill-defined Indian defense policies and poor war strategies? It should be kept in mind that after each crash there is always a spark of argument and blame game between the Indian Air Force officials and the defense ministry representatives. IAF officials believe that Indian military agreements with the Russian industries are hunted by immense corruption. On the other hand, the Indian political hub claims that pilots are mostly responsible for the crash. This blame game hurts the sentiments of the public as well; as it poses a question mark on the efficiency of guardians of the Indian sky. Russian weapons are not based on universal mechanism like the ones the US have. So each machine requires a different approach and maintenance. Defense experts around the globe believe that a diverse collection of Indian air inventory makes it difficult for the Indian military to manage their matters. Last but not least, in recent years there is a gradual decrease in Indian defense imports from Russia as they are turning towards France and their locally built Jets. As a matter of fact, The newly built so-called pride of the Indian defense industry HAL Tejas was grounded in 2019 over the technical faults. Secondly, the newly inducted Dassault Rafale also turned out to be a matter of controversy as different allegations based on corruption and favoritism were launched against the Indian government. Experts believe that the Indian shift of weapon purchase will not only bring ups and downs in Indo-Russia relations but will also put a question mark on the ace of India’s new vendor. Analysts on the other edge of the spectrum are still unsure that if this new market is going to revive the obsolete Indian defense policies and outdated inventory or the new market is going to meet the same fate as its preceder.
