IAF attrition

I know there was another thread started about that but it’s all ####ed up now.I seems that this problem has become so bad that the MoD of India and ACM Tipnis give various sorts of excuses day after day.The truth is that even now,the problem has’nt been taken seriously.I’ll try to show what’s happening and to an extent show that the crashes don’t reduce the IAF’s overall quality by THAT much.

First of all I’d like to say that to the common man a crash rate like the IAF’s would bring out the message “IAF sucks.They can’t fly a kite!” but many who are a tad ahead in sense and intelligence would want to analyse the situation further to find out why a top notch Air force is facing the most basic(and embarassing)problems.

1) I think 80% of the problem is because of the Mig 21.Not just the age and difficulty in handling but the way it has integrated itself into the IAF.

*The Mig 21 –

This is a 40 year old machine.It once had it’s time but now is outdated and in-capable.Now the IAF has been cursed with having to manage over 300+ of these beasts.Even when it first came,the pilots would complain about it’s handling and the *extreme* difficulty in keeping it stable.It is a supersonic aircraft too.Some of it’s problem’s were:

1>Tendency to go into a flat spin at certain AoA
2>Poor handling at low speed and low altitudes.
3>Initially only 2/3 of the internal fuel could be used beofre the Center of Gravity shifted – poor fuel management systems. To keep on solving this issue the dorsal spine and fin kept on getting enlarged to increase the fule load
4>The tendency to spin and mushing at low speeds are an outcome of the Mig-21’s design – a narrow aspect, “sharp” delta.
5>Sharp steep dive at unexpected times.

India has produced 800+ Mig 21s,many of them FL versions – the oldest.The Mig21bis had somewhat of an improvement in hadling but not significant enough.The Mig21 requires very good piloting skills to just keep in the air and much more to combat in.The Mig21 has not been succesful in combat anywhere else in the world having suffered extremely heavy losses hence can not be concluded as a succesful design.IAF mig21s are unupgraded nor have their powerplants undergone any upgrade.FL versions bear the brunt of the Mig 21 crashes.Now the Mig 21 is not only an unforgiving suicide machine but the airframes are extremely old as well and way over their lifetimes.The IAF pushes to the limits an old design originally meant to be an interceptor.Anyone would expect such junk to glorify scrapyards by now but the IAF Leaders insist on their staying reasons including “Numerical match against China” or the inability to scrap/ground 1/3 of the fleet at once.
Other problems include:

*Lack/non-production of spares.
*Neglegance by manufacturer/assembler.(HAL already has the LCA,Lancer and HJT-36 projects being worked on)

The Pilot factor – Integrating the Mig21 into training :

This is by far the worst mistake India has done since the cease-fire of 1965 – It has resulted in deaths of many young pilots.It’s a blunder by the people who structured the IAF training and DOES NOT relate to the quality of training or instructor quality.By now it’s well known fact that the Mig 21s are extremely difficult to handle and really good pilots are required.A trainee does not become really good until he’s gone through all the phases and unfortunately,training and flying(uh oh)in the Mig 21 is one of them.From the Iskra or sometimes the Kiran,rookie pilots are made to jump to the Mig 21.You can’t know how to ride a bicycle then jump to and ride a bike at that speed without crashing it.Without being “really good” rookies have an extremely hard time with the Mig 21 and what’s more – the IAF Uses the Mig21U Mongol as it’s AJT.This combined with the already existant problems with the Mig21 make a suicide combination.

Many IAF pilots thanks to their skill,tame the beast,fly it well,get experience and skill to add to their quality and these are the ones who are actually ‘promoted’ to any other a/c but unfortunately,not everyone can be that good and hence are “Dead”.It seems as if IAF’s policy is to filter out the really good pilots for their Mirages,Mig 29s and Jags and kill the rest.Only few of the Mig 21 pilots would be combat worthy while the learning dudes and newbies are not.(They either get really good or DIE)!

While this brings out some excellent pilots,it kills the rest who are’nt worthy and this is sick.Mig 21s were meant to be flown by the most experienced pilots in the IAF,not to train in nor to be flown by anybody “lesser” especially not trainees.

Solution:Mig 21s need to be scrapped and AJTS need to be brought in fast to replace the Mig 21Us.These will improve quantity of skilled pilots needed to handle *only* the Mig21-93 properly.
FLs,older Bis should’ve been scrapped long ago and have no place in the IAF.

2)What about the other planes crashing dude????

With the Mig 21s out of the entire equation,attrition is gonna reduce to a good low.
But there are still types which suffer the same problems of a Mig 21:

The Mig23:
The second most frequent crash machine.IAF Pilots have said that this bitch is even more difficult to handle than the Mig 21.
There are very small nos. maintained and were meant to be phased out and will be soon.It has NEVER seen combat success.Also,the baseline Mig23 did not recieve spares.Meant to be a pure interceptor,it’s old age and usage for low-level ground attack and extreme manouvers proved to be too much for the ageing airframe to handle.

The Mig 27:

Same airframe,same probs but much newer.Engine flameouts and glitches are frequent – Mostly on the older Russian built ones.They are frequently flown over the mountains and again pushed beyond their limits are design expectations by the IAF.No. of losses are acceptably low howvever.

Solution : phasing out of Mig 23 types. Better maintanance and sabotage checks are required.(Let’s not forget the cook incident)

Chetak:
40 years old.Should’ve been phased out.Will be replaced by ALH.

Cheetah:

The Cheetah helicopters are of 1960s vintage and were inducted into the IAF in the early 1970s. There has been no significant improvement in the single engine helicopter, which is not even guaranteed by manufacturers to fly above 18,000 feet. However, the IAF and army aviation pilots fly these helicopters up to 22,000 feet altitude with no reserve power in case of emergencies. “We know in case something goes wrong, or there is even a strong wind current we will crash into the ice desert below,” a HAL Cheetah pilot said.

3)Ok,they’re all junk,What about the others dude?

Mig29s(2),Mirage 2000(3),jags(8?) all have better lifetime attrition rates than most other countries.
Mig 29s and Mirage 2000s crash rate are less than the USAF’s.
(Even per flying time).Crashes can’t totally be avoided.There are Hs748,Iskra(old),Kiran(old-MK1),Mi-17 crashes but these are
reasonably low.

Mistakes have been made and obviously if u don’t fix them immediatly,they will escalate,evolve and establish themselves.The Mig 21 ,Mig 23 etc are all mistakes the IAF made…and by ignoring them at an early stage,the IAF now faces a complex plethora of problems.

So,I conclude by saying that by removing the Mig21s and Mig 23s,Cheetahs and Chetaks which are not meant to be,out of the IAF,Attrition would significantly decrease.Of course,AJTs must be immediatly brought in to replace the Mongols.The Rest of the Mig21s and Mig23s should be phased out.Since India cannot afford to replace 300+ Mig21s with anything other than the LCA,I guess pilot to cockpit ratio should increase.
Please don’t think it’s “bad pilot quality” or “poor instructors” or “poor training” coz these are just excuses put out by people facing a dire situation or by oppossing/hostile people who don’t know what’s really wrong or just to tease…

After a few years,I vision a truely top of the line airforce,(IAF)
where,
this will be the training pattern:

HPT-32 Deepak > HJT-36(cool) > BAe Hawk LIFT > LCA >> Mig 29 >>>Mirage 2000 >>> Rafael or Su-30

The IAf could have easily established the above system long ago but lack of funds,decisions,history of frauds…etc etc came in
taking away the respect the IAF deserves.

Thank you