Indian Defence Review

Strategic Airlift Capability

The national carrier is usually counted first as the civil aviation asset that is components of national aerospace power. In India’s case, they are ailing and feeble. However, other airlines make up for that with their more glamorous and efficient operations. Civil aviation in India began as early as 1911. The first airline was established by Mr JRD Tata in 1932 and the total number of airlines grew to nine by 1953 when the air transport sector was nationalised and Air India and Indian Airlines gained monopoly over Indian civil aviation. The monopoly regime brought in inefficiencies which continue to haunt the two national carriers, one domestic and one international (now merged and operating under the Air India banner).

The process of liberalisation which commenced in 1989 dismantled the monopolistic regime in 1994 and a large number of airlines emerged on the scene. After a false start during the late nineties, private airlines bloomed once again from 2003 onwards and have since then, pushed the national domestic carrier to the fourth place. Today there are six passenger airlines and two cargo airlines. The foregoing highlights the large potential the Indian airlines represent in terms of the capability to carry passengers and cargo within the country or abroad if the need arises.

As per DGCA, the total number of aircraft that the civil aviation industry has today inclusive of airlines and general aviation is an impressive 1141 fixed wing and 296 rotary wing. While the IAF has a strategic airlift capability represented by its IL 76 and the newly acquired C 130 J aircraft, it is not unlikely that a contingency may require additional airlift capacity across the nation and even beyond its borders. Should that need arise, the airlines could be asked to assist by making available part of their fleet to augment the air power assets of the government.

This diversion of airliners from their primary commercial preoccupation, cannot be taken for granted because the very happenstance which necessitates it would, in all probability, also put a high premium on the airline’s available passenger (and cargo) capacity. Heightened levels of tension in the neighbourhood would lead to a sudden surge in demand for domestic travel. However, the capability is a large, extant part of national aerospace power.

Integrated Airspace Management

India is in the process of installing GAGAN or GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation, a satellite-based navigation system and will be the fourth in the world (after US, Europe and Japan) to have such a system in place. The system is being implemented by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) with technological assistance from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), both civil organisations contributing to national aerospace power. GAGAN, after its final operational phase completion, will be compatible with other Space Based Augmentation Systems such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) and the Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS) and will provide seamless air navigation service across regional boundaries.

When India was confounded by Chinese military action in 1962, civil flying clubs were overnight converted to flying schools churning out military pilots on fast track”¦

The government has stated that it intends to use the experience of creating the GAGAN system to enable the creation of an autonomous regional navigation system called the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS). Flight Management System based on GAGAN will then be poised to save operators’ time and money by managing climb, descent and engine performance profiles.

It will improve airport and airspace access in all weather conditions and the ability to meet environmental and obstacle clearance constraints. It will also enhance reliability and reduce delays by defining more precise terminal area procedures that feature parallel routes and environmentally optimised airspace corridors. GAGAN will also offer high positional accuracies over a wide geographical area like the Indian airspace.

These positional accuracies will be simultaneously available to civilian and military airports and will facilitate an increase in the number of functional airports. As can be seen, this largely civil aviation oriented system will have an impact not only on civil aircraft movements on civil aerodromes, but will also facilitate air movements across all the 500 plus airports that are expected to be functional in a phased manner across the country.

Space represents a regime wherein synergies are possible between various agencies to augment national aerospace power. The nature of India’s space programme is intrinsically civilian in character. However, space based assets afford immense opportunity for complementing aviation related ventures. Apart from GAGAN, meteorological services, communications, surveillance and reconnaissance are areas in which these essentially civil assets can extend the frontiers of national aerospace power. One adjunct to any nation’s space programme is the allied capability to produce ballistic missiles; in India’s case too, its fairly well developed space programme has meant that it has a credible missile programme. The Prithvi and the Agni missiles are a veritable component of aerospace power.

Inexorable Linkage

The aviation industry in India has made impressive progress with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in the lead. The interest in aerospace has, over the years led to two Aero Shows being held biennially so that each successive year there is at least one event. These are the Aero India held at Bangalore every odd year and the India Aviation held at Hyderabad every even year. The former is now the world’s fourth largest.

The fact that the India Aviation is managed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and that for Aero India 2011, the number of civil aircraft on display outnumbered those from the military, reflects the importance of the civil aviation industry in India. The inevitable conclusion is that Indian civil and military aviation are inextricably linked and civil aviation, like military aviation, is an inseparable component of national aerospace power.