Indian Army to get its own 'mini air force' now

The Indian Army has finally got an in-principle approval for its demand for a 'mini air force' of its own. Going against the opposition of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to the "duplication of assets", the Defence Ministry on Thursday conceded to the Indian Army's demand of operating attack helicopters.

The letter received by the Indian Army on Thursday mentioned that all "future procurements" of the attack helicopters will be done by the force. This approval has open the speculation that the yet-to-be-procured 22 Boeing Apache AH-64D helicopters are also like to go to the Indian Army. For the last several years the the IAF has been conducting the field and technical evaluations for this contract and it is presently in the Contract Negotiation stage. However, the existing fleet of attack helicopters with the IAF - Mi-25/Mi-35 - will remain with it.

Also the Defence Ministry has given greater role to the Indian Army in the tasking of the medium lift helicopters operated by the IAF. From now on, the tasking given by the Army will be given priority in all times.

Sources indicate the attack helicopters requirement of the Army to be about 10 squadrons. As per plans the Indian Army envisages to have a squadron each of attack/armed, reconnaissance and tactical battle-support helicopters for each of its 13 Corps and the three strike corps headquartered at Mathura, Ambala and Bhopal will get more air assets. In fact, the Army is scheduled to get its first attack helicopter developed domestically Rudra soon. Rudra will be armed with 20mm turrent guns, 70 mm rockets, air-to-air missiles and anti-tank guided missiles.

The Air Force and Army had seen a tussle over deployment of attack helicopters during the 1999 Kargil conflict. Despite repeated requests from the Indian Army, the IAF had refused to deploy attack helicopters citing extreme heights and advantageous position of the enemy will make them sitting duck. Since then the control and operation of air assets has been a bone of contention between the two forces.