It is indeed a matter of pride that India finally boasts of its own deadly Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA). The multi-role supersonic fighter will give the much needed shot in the arm of Indian Air Force apart from being a morale booster because it is an indigenous product.
No doubt the project dragged on for almost 30 years, but with more Tejas aircraft joining IAF in the next two years, the much awaited replacement of the old Russian MiG-21s, nicknamed “Flying Coffins” because of their poor safety record, will finally become a reality. Far too many aircraft and pilots were lost in multiple crashes of the MiG-21s. Hopefully the crashes would be a thing of the past with Tejas recording a flawless performance and no accident in 3,000 hours of flying.
The 45 squadron, nicknamed “Flying Daggers”, will be getting a total of 18 Tejas aircrafts, including four trainers, by 2018. The good news could not have come at a better time considering that India’s fighter aircraft fleet, made up of a mix of Russian, British and French planes, is down to 33 squadrons as against IAF’s requirement of 45 to face Pakistan and China.
Another reason to feel happy is that the Flying Daggers will give IAF the much required edge over the JF-17 aircraft jointly building by China and Pakistan. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) deserves kudos for developing Tejas and giving IAF more teeth to tackle any infringement of our country’s air space. Group Captain Madhav Rangachari, commanding officer of 45 Squadron, has already given thumbs up to the multi-role aircraft claiming that it was like being on the top of the world after flying the aircraft post its induction in IAF on Friday.
Putting aside the debate on why this aircraft was delayed inordinately, what the defence ministry needs to do is to keep up the tempo and ensure that the target of empowering the 45 squadron with 18 aircraft by 2018 is not missed. Along with this, work on the proposed naval version of the LCA, which is being developed, should be speeded up to boost Indian Navy’s strike capabilities when a variant of Tejas would fly off the deck of one of India’s aircraft carriers out at sea.
Alarming development in our neighbourhood
The ease with which heavily armed terrorists belonging to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or al-Sham (ISIS) held several people hostage, killing many including an Indian girl, at an upscale Dhaka restaurant situated in diplomatic zone must have rung the alarm bells in the corridors of all of our intelligence agencies concerned. The strong presence of the deadly terrorist group in our neighbourhood does not bode well for India.
Already there are reports that Bangladesh and Pakistan would prove to be ideal places for setting up of ISIS bases to operate from and plan out attacks in India. It has also been reported in Indian media that once the group manages to build its base in Bangladesh, it will launch raids in east and west of India. The taking over of the Dhaka restaurant by the terrorists is proof enough of how well the ISIS has entrenched itself in Bangladesh.
Not that the presence of ISIS in Bangladesh, which they call Bengal, was a secret. Shaykh Abu Ibrahim Al-Hanif, ‘Amir of Khilafah in Bengal’ has already declared that Bengal has a strategic location and building a jihadi base there will facilitate ISIS to launch guerrilla attacks in India to facilitate creating a condition of tawahhush (fear and chaos) in India along with the help of the existing local mujahideen. The current scenario becomes all the more alarming because of the presence of some ISIS supporters in India.
Only recently National Investigation Agency had busted the Hyderabad module of ISIS. The arrested youths were in touch with a former Indian Mujahideen member, who is now part of ISIS. They were plotting terror strikes and communal clashes. These arrests make it evident that ISIS is trying to mislead Indian youths and use them against India.
Till now the ISIS has not been able to make any significant inroads into India and perhaps this is why it is concentrating on Bangladesh from where it can operate far more easily. India needs to collaborate with Bangladesh government in locating and destroying these ISIS bases before their terror operatives manage to slip into India and create havoc.
