Should Indian Air Force ‘Dump’ Additional Batch Of Rafale Jets for SU-30 MKIs

Recently an article was published in Eurasia Times stating Why Indian Air Force Could ‘Dump’ Additional Batch of Rafale Jets for Next-Gen Su-30 Fighters. The article has been written based on the comment from famous national security expert Bharat Karnad. IN today’s video we will be checking various aspect of both these fighter jets and try to understand which of them would be the best option. However, I am not going to bore you guys with specifications of the fighter jets as you can easily read that in Wikipedia. We will be discussing something which is lesser-known facts about the capabilities of both the fighter jets. So, let’s get started.

First, lets quickly look into the squadron strength of Indian Air Force and its future requirements. At present the air force has 32 squadrons against the sanctioned strength of 42. Each squadron consists of 18 aircrafts. In total Indian air force requires 18*10=180 air craft. IAF has also planned to retire ageing MIG 21 in phase wise manner from 2024. IAF currently operates 110 MIG 21. So total requirement of IAF will rise to 180+110= 280 by 2025. Out of these 280, IAF is planning to buy 12 SU 30 MKIs, 21 MIG 29s, 83 Tejas MK1A which will add 116 fighters in its inventory. This leaves the gap of 164 fighter jets. This number is expected to be mostly filled with Tejas MK2 but its production will only start after 2028-2029, which means there is a gap of 7 to 8 years. In interim, Air force has two option which is SU 30MKI & Rafales and one thing that’s important to understand is that they both are not in same category. The Sukhoi-30 is a heavy class fighter, while the Rafale is a medium class fighter.

Since SU-30 MKIs are bigger in size. The bigger aircraft will have a longer range and greater payload capability while the smaller aircraft will be slightly less capable in these areas but will have advantage in BVR combat.

The Rafale is a multirole aircraft with an excellent Air to Ground capabilities. My favorite is its capability to generate real-time 3D terrain maps that the aircraft's autopilot can follow. This allows the aircraft to fly fast and low in low light conditions for a surprise attack. In mountainous terrain, especially at LAC this feature will be quite useful in evading the Chinese radars. Also, the Rafale uses composites extensively which helps keep the weight down and makes the aircraft relatively stealthy.

The SU 30 MKI is a variant of the legendary Su-27, which was designed for air dominance roles. The maneuvering capabilities, extreme agility and heavy payloads make the aircraft a formidable interceptor. However, one thing to notice is that Rafale and SU 30MKIs have almost similar payload capacity of around 9,500kg, even though Rafale being much smaller in size. But what gives SU-30MKI edge is its size, yes size does matter and that’s what made the integration of BrahMos missile possible which is not possible in case of Rafales. However, with Meteor, Mica, Scalp & Hammer missiles, Rafale has all the best-in-class missiles in its inventory to dominate the sky. At the same time SU-30MKIs are like a fighter, bomber & mini-AWACS and with the integration of BrahMos it becomes the only fighter jet to carry super sonic cruise missile in the world.

Unlike the Rafales, the SU-30MKI’s airframe is all metal and the overall design is not very stealthy and it was not meant to be stealthy. The size has its own advantage. During Balakot strike when the Mirage were on the mission to bomb the terror launch bad, it was SU-30MKI which has distracted the Pakistan Airforce due to its bigger size and Pakistanis were busy scrambling jets against SU 30 MKIs while Mirage did its magic.

In a Within Visual Rang engagement the Sukhoi is inherently more agile. It's true that the Rafael and Typhoon airframes bleed less energy in extreme maneuvers but this doesn't mean they are more agile. The Su30MKI has faster instantaneous and sustained turn rates, and smaller turn radius. A more energy efficient fighter can exploit its advantage by maneuvering in the vertical pane, looping up and down.
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