Confronting problems of obsolete fighter jets as highlighted by army chief Gen VK Singh, the Indian Air Force is now also facing shortage of pilots for want of training facilities.
While the government is finalising a multi-billion dollar deal for procuring 126 fighter aircraft, Parliament’s public accounts committee (PAC) has raised a pertinent question as who will fly these aircraft.
The PAC noted 15 per cent to 31 per cent shortfall in the number of pilots trained as against the IAF’s target of having 220 new pilots every year. In fact, while the IAF told the committee that it plans to increase the number of trainees from 260 to 350 every year by 2017, the defence ministry was silent on addressing the additional infrastructure needed to meet the increased induction.
Defence ministry representatives also told the committee that modern simulator technology was not readily available for adaptation.
“Indian Air Force has failed to procure/upgrade simulators for trainer aircraft for more than a decade thus depriving the trainees of safe and non-hazardous means of learning to fly aircraft,” concludes the PAC. The panel headed by BJP’s Murli Manohar Joshi chided the IAF for not having any long-term training plan for pilots of fighter and other streams for developing a long-term strategic objective.
“The committee is seriously concerned that training establishments are imparting training mostly with outdated and ageing aircraft... Surprisingly, the ministry claimed that the long-term training plan was not formulated mainly due to shortage or non-availability of trainer aircraft and delay in procurement of advanced jet trainer,” says the report. It lambasted the IAF for failing to have a comprehensive long-term plan covering not only the projected needs of trained pilots, but also the infrastructure required for their training.
