IAF evacuation ops will continue round the clock; S400 delivery unlikely to be affected, says IAF Vice Chief

He said the operation “is happening with full coordination of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Civil airlines were already going.” But to “increase the capacity,” of the evacuation efforts, he said the Air Force has also been involved. “We have to bring back all our students. We will bring them back. I am sure we will bring all our people back safely.”

He said C17, which is the largest aircraft in Air Force’s fleet, is being used primarily, and “it can go directly, it doesn’t have to make a stop anywhere.” He added some humanitarian aid is also being sent to Ukraine.

C17 is Air Force’s transport workhorse and was used to evacuate Indian citizens from Afghanistan last year after Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021.

As per the plan till now, 26 to 27 flights have been used, he said, including both commercial and Air Force aircraft, to bring back students and other Indians who are stuck in Ukraine. The initial phase of the evacuation operation can take four to five days.

Singh said after the initial rush, the number of people leaving the country starts trickling down. However, he said that the operations will continue till every citizen is brought back. Whether that is done using commercial or Indian Air Force’s aircraft is the government’s call, but the force will be ready if asked, he added.

Asked about the impact of the war on Russia’s defence exports to India, Ukraine’s project to modernise the Air Force’s fleet of over 100 AN 32 transport aircraft, and the threat of sanctions from the United States, Singh said that “things are still unfolding. Don’t think it will affect us.”

“Confident that it will not affect us significantly. It is not a cause of concern,” Singh said. Regarding the AN 32 modernisation, he said that the project “has progressed a lot, thankfully”. Similar issues were faced immediately after 2014 as well when Russia annexed Crimea. But since then, he said, “Many upgrade products we indigenised. That progress is nearly completed. There was some delay, because of the items that were coming from there. But it forced us to indigenise the upgrade.”

Questioned about the delivery of S400 Triumf air defence systems, five of which India had bought for nearly $5 billion in 2018, and the first unit was delivered in December, Singh said he was hopeful that the ongoing situation “will not impact”. “Some delays may happen or may not happen. Our relations with Russia will continue. I know it’s a geopolitical difficult situation.” However, he said that the delivery should happen soon.

The first unit of the state-of-the-art S400 air defence system, with India-specific configurations, was delivered by Russia in December, and has been deployed in Punjab. According to sources, the delivery of the next unit is expected to begin in April, and all five units are expected by mid-2023.