The 91st Air Force Day will be celebrated in Prayagraj city of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The Bamrauli Air Force Station will host the Air Force Day parade, while the air display will take place near the Ordnance Depot Fort, highlighting the Sangam area of the city.
Sangam is considered one of the holiest places for Hindus, as the three holy rivers Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati meet here.
At least 120 aircraft will take part in the air show this year and the aircraft will fly in Sugreev, Luv-Kush and Bharat formation. Sugreev, Luv-Kush and Bharat are prominent characters of the Hindu holy book Ramayan.
On the eve of Air Force Day, in an interview with Sputnik India, Karen Kwiatkowski, a former US Department of Defense analyst and retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, declared that the Indian Air Force (IAF) is the most formidable in Asia.
“The third rank comes after combining all of the US Air Forces (AF, Navy, Army and Marines) each of which are ranked separately by the WDMMA with its unique ranking system. Therefore, going by the WDMMA ranking IAF is one of the strongest in Asia,” he added.
When discussing the failures in the IAF, the retired Lieutenant Colonel of the USAF pointed out a parallel weakness in the Indian Air Force - bureaucracy and a lack of unified political vision regarding investments in air power. It is crucial to consider who the enemy is and what the objectives are when investing in air power.
He mentioned that when comparing the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to the IAF, the PAF was placed at the 18th position in the WDMMA ranking, which is indicative of its relatively smaller scale.
“Apart from this, IAF uses some old Russian fighter aircrafts and more newer Russian and French fighter aircrafts whereas PAF uses Russian fighters aircrafts as well as older US F-16,” the ex-analyst of US Department of Defence stated.
He mentioned that Pakistan indeed possesses air combat experience due to its association with the US and its utilisation of F-16s during the US-Afghanistan conflict in the last two decades, as well as conflicts with India in Kashmir. However, the regrettable truth is that any nation relying on US military assistance and technology will inevitably have its foreign policy influenced by the US.
IAF Modernisation
Meanwhile, retired IAF Wing Commander Praful Bakshi hailed the modernisation of the Air Force, saying that the British were also getting good and advanced aircraft, but India was moving forward very strongly with the Russians who were generous in supplying MiG-21s to start the fighter fleet, then they gave us AN-12s as a transport fleet and in 1968-69 we got the faster, better fighter-bomber Sukhoi-7 from them.
Bakshi expressed his gratitude for the assistance provided by Russia, emphasizing that he had personally witnessed their support during the 1971 war, where they effectively deterred the American fleet.
He feels that countries who produce their own weapon systems are more sovereign as they control their own supplies, and that is important for India to continue the indigenisation process.
“We are going to replace a lot of our old aircraft and induct a lot of new ones. This shows positive mindset towards our policy which marks a significant change. The policy of the government in the last eight to nine years has been unprecedented and if we keep working positively it may take us even less time to strengthen our air power,” Bakshi stated.