Looking forward to get a lot more new-gen fighter jets, Vayushakti-26 drill to highlight 'Op Sindoor success': IAF vice-chief

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force (IAF) is looking forward to inducting “a lot more” of newer-generation aircraft into its inventory, vice chief of the air staff, Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor, said on Wednesday.

“Rafale definitely was a hero, among other heroes, during Operation Sindoor. Yes, Rafale is the buzzword... The IAF is looking forward to inducting a lot more MRFA (multi-role fighter aircraft) whether that will be Rafale or any other aircraft, is presently under consideration. However, a concrete decision on it has not yet been taken. The sooner, the better," Air Marshal Kapoor said during a press meet ahead of Exercise Vayushakti-26 at the Pokhran field firing range on Feb 27.

His remark came on the eve of the Defence Acquisition Council meeting on Thursday when the council, led by defence minister Rajnath Singh, will take up several big-ticket defence proposals for clearance, which may include the proposed deal with France for 114 Rafale jets for the IAF and six additional P-8I Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft for the Indian Navy.

Full spectrum operations by fighter, transport and helicopter platforms, including Tejas, Rafale, Jaguar, Mirage-2000, Sukhoi- 30MKI, MiG-29, LCH, Apache and Chinook, will be executed at the upcoming Exercise Vayu Shakti. The air exercise will highlight the “successful role” of the IAF during Operation Sindoor, Air Marshal Kapoor said. More than 120 aircraft and helicopters will be part of the exercise.

The exercise will also feature advanced weapon systems such as Short Range Loitering Munitions (SRLM), Akash, SpyDer and Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (CUAS), carrying out day, dusk and night missions.

Vayushakti-26 will also highlight the success of Operation Sindoor, reaffirming IAF's primacy in airspace dominance, multi-domain operations and its ability to deliver decisive effects with indigenous platforms guided by the vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat'. The biennial demonstration this time “assumes (a) different connotation” as this is taking place after last year’s Op Sindoor, Air Marshal Kapoor said. He, however, said certain long-range missile profiles won’t be demonstrated.

Asked if the demonstration taking place not far from the western border will carry any strategic messaging to Pakistan, he said, “We will do our demonstration. What message will go out to anyone? It is up to you to decide.”

On being asked about the attacks on Pakistan's Kirana Hills, supposed to be Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal base, during Op Sindoor, the vice-IAF chief says, “We attacked terror infrastructure and several of their (Pakistan's) military installations. This is absolutely true. If you see any video, whether it's from open sources, or generated by them, or what they’re trying to portray, we don’t know. Whether we did something, or whether the explosion was caused by an insurgency there, or by what weapon, we don’t know about all this. But these videos (of Kirana Hills) were presented by their people; they made them; we did nothing. We only struck terror and military installations.”