China Among Indian Air Force Concerns

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has long had big ambitions, and the pending arrival of a new service chief with a broad agenda indicates there will be no easing up in efforts to improve the breadth of the service’s capabilities.

The first major restructuring of the IAF’s order of battle, a revival of border air bases to counter Chinese air force deployments and quick acquisitions of weapons and systems to plug capability gaps will be the operational priorities of the IAF’s next chief, Air Marshal Norman Browne, who takes office at the end of July.

The flow of foreign hardware into India will be substantial during the new chief’s time in office. Browne’s tenure as IAF chief also stands to see the signing of tens of billions of dollars in contracts.

Read more