Pakistan’s plan to acquire F-16 fighter aircraft from the US will have an impact on India but it is equipped to face any challenge, Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi said today. “To say that Pakistan’s plans to acquire F-16s won’t affect us is wrong. It makes a difference, but India is tough enough to face any challenge,” he told a press conference after attending an NCC (Air wing) show here. Tyagi said Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had revised the plan to buy F-16s and “could reduce the numbers” in the wake of the October 8 quake. Ruling out phasing out of MiG series fighter aircraft, the Air Chief said the mindset that Russian fighter planes were “outdated or dangerous” needed to change. “If MiGs are unsafe, Indian Air Force would not risk sending its pilots for training or routine flying exercises”. “These are the safest ones. IAF does not plan to phase out them or dump them into Ganga,” Tyagi said. He said the number of accidents involving MiGs had come down this year. According to the Air Chief, India’s plan to buy Advance Jet Trainer (AJT) aircraft was progressing on schedule. “The Air Force will get 66 AJTs by the stipulated period (June-Sep 2007). Training for pilots is on in Britain,” he said. Tyagi dismissed a question on IAF pilots migrating to commercial airlines as “mere media hype”. Private airlines do provide better pay packets but there was no stress migration from the Air force, he said. Earlier in the day, 16 Agra-based NCC (Air wing) cadets led by Sq Leader Deepak Sharma presented a sky-diving show at the military ground here in the presence of the Air Chief.
