Source : Indian Defence Updates (IDU)
Procure 5th gen fighters off the shelf for IAF : Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence to Govt of India
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has tabled its report in the Parliament, which mentions that there is a considerable delay in the supply of 40 Tejas Mark 1 fighter jets from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and until now 38 Tejas Mark 1 fighter jets have been delivered to the Indian Air Force.
The report also said that in case the procurement of 114 fighter jets under Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) program is delayed further, the Government should consider off-the-shelf purchase of state-of-the-art 5th generation fighter jets without losing time to keep the force in a comfortable position.
This report comes against the backdrop of the United States demonstrating its Fifth Generation F-35A fighter jet at the Aero India 2023 which could have made a possible influence on their report.
It is to note that the Indian Air Force has made it clear several times earlier that they are backing indigenous AMCA 5th Generation Stealth fighter project and has no plan to procure a 5th generation jet from abroad as yet.
