Vice Chief Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria on Thursday said that once Su-30MKI and Rafale fighter jets will start operating together for Indian Air Force, it will be a potent combination to tackle all adversaries of India, including Pakistan and China. 


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"Once Su-30MKI and Rafale start operating together, it'll be a potent combination against our adversaries. Be it Pak or anyone else,it'll be a potent capability.Any adversary would be worried about such a combination," Vice Chief Air Marshal Bhadauria told ANI.



When asked if Pakistan would think to launch a February 27-type operation once Su-30MKI and Rafale jets start operating together for IAF, Vice Chief Air Marshal Bhadauria said that Pakistan would suffer huge losses if they dare to launch any such operation after the induction of Rafale jets in IAF's arsenal.Vice Chief Air Marshal Bhadauria remarked that the losses for Pakistan will be huge because IAF would be able to hit back with larger and better weapons using Rafale and Sukhoi jets.


"For any such operation by Pak,they would have losses much more.We would have larger&better weapons. The attrition that we'll inflict would be be very high," remarked the Vice Chief Air Marshal.



It is to be noted that IAF is also planning to buy 18 more Sukhoi Su-30 MKI multirole fighters and 21 Mikoyan MiG-29 air superiority jets from Russia in order to strengthen its capabilities. The IAF currently has a sanctioned strength of 272 Su-30 MKIs and it also operates 69 MiG-29 UPGs.


A total of 42 squadrons are required by IAF to be effective during a two-front war with China and Pakistan but the IAF is currently operating with only 31 squadrons as it retires the older MiG-21 and MiG-27 aircraft. The additional Su-30 MKI and MiG-29 jets will add two more squadrons to the IAF fighter fleet.