 NEW DELHI - The Indian Air Force (IAF) plans to upgrade the majority of its aging combat jets and transport aircraft, a senior IAF officer said on Monday. âWe are planning upgrades of practically every aircraft. We will also upgrade our surface-to-air missiles which are about 30 years old,â Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnani told reporters. He added the upgrade was being done so the IAF doesnât have to procure new aircraft. The upgrade will be completed within five years and will include MiG 29 fighters, deep penetration Jaguar aircraft, Mirage 2000 multi-role fighters, Mi-17 transport helicopters and An-32 medium transport aircraft. No cost details were available. The IAF has already upgraded 125 of their Russian-made MiG-21s which had been reporting frequent crashes until about two years ago, IAF officers said.
| Throwing good money after bad with those MiG-21s. |
âThe upgradation is being done to check the slipping force levels and till the time the IAF procures 126 new multi-role fighter aircraft, which has already been announced,â an IAF officer said. |