turkey and China have picked a side they’re backing Pakistan not just diplomatically but also militarily and this has created a new security challenge for India it has also triggered a sense of urgency so India is accelerating defense procurements especially the pending orders for the air force and for this India is turning to its trusted partners like Israel it’s an old defense supplier of India it’s among the top four defense suppliers of India along with Russia France and the US and now Israel will help India with fighter jets they will supply cutting edge technology for the technology like the AESA that’s active electronic scanned array aesa I know it sounds technical so let’s try to simplify it for you for a fighter pilot AESA is like having X-ray vision in the skies it helps the pilot identify enemies how it sends out radio waves they bounce off the target and send a signal back to the aircraft so this technology can track dozens of targets at once from drones to enemy jets and even missiles it can cover all of them so this is a critical piece of technology it helps pilots avoid surprises and stay safe it is made by an Israeli company called Ela and now they’re giving it to India they’re offering critical upgrades for the This this was long overdue although the wait for Indian pilots is not really over because the Thous MK1A it is being built by HAL Hindustan Aeronautics Limited India’s state-owned defense giant for decades the Air Force has relied on HAL they secured the tages contract in 2021 it’s been four years since four years not a single jet has been delivered the HAL has missed every delivery deadline they were supposed to supply more than 80 jets starting March last year but not a single one is ready yet india’s air force chief has raised concerns publicly and repeatedly timelines is a big issue you know that is where that bachan part comes in so once a timeline is given not not a single project that I can think of has been completed on time so this is something where we have to look at why should we promise something which cannot be achieved while signing the contract itself some of the times we are sure that it is not going to come up but we just sign the contract obviously then the you know the process gets vitiated this was not his first warning he’s been asking for air force acquisitions to be fasttracked so that India can maintain an operational edge clearly the tages program has fallen behind and one big bottleneck is engine supply now we don’t make our own jet engines yet it’s very advanced technology it is hard to crack so for engines India has been relying on America’s GE General Electric they won the contract in 2021 and they too missed deadlines their first engines came only in March this year again after a 4-year long wait and this disrupted all timelines it pushed the entire program off track so India now faces a tricky question how do we streamline our aircraft procurement what are India’s options what are the alternatives like I said India is turning to its trusted partners which brings me to the French india is considering French engines now the discussions are on with French aerospace giant Saffron they too make jet engines so India could rope in Saffron for the next version of the This the MK2 fighter jet it’s an upgrade to the MK1 jet it is likely to replace the Mirage 2000 the Jaguar and the MiG 29 jets which are currently in the IIAF’s fleet the fleet of the Indian Air Force but why Saffron because India does not have the luxury of time india needs a large number of fighter jets and it needs them quickly for this it will have to boost domestic production and it cannot put all its eggs in one basket india will have to engage with multiple suppliers and integrate new technology rapidly because our security landscape is changing china is arming Pakistan against us giving them all kinds of next generation weapons countries like Turkey are giving them drones you see Operation Synindhur has set a new normal india has decided to impose direct costs on Pakistan for supporting terror groups a terror attack will be an act of war and this new doctrine requires readiness it requires more firepower it requires urgent acquisitions making it at home is a good long-term strategy but it’s going to take time until then India must rely on trusted partners and diversify because a delay is no longer just an inefficiency it’s a vulnerability and in the current security environment India cannot afford it first post now available in nine languages on YouTube english stands at 36ion French German Hindi Indonesian Italian Japanese Portuguese Spanish go to settings click on audio track and select the language of your choice be the first to know what’s happening around you in your first language first post