List of active Indian military aircraft
Updated: Wikipedia source
The Indian Armed Forces consists of Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force. These three arms and the Indian Coast Guard operate a combination of combat, reconnaissance, tanker, and transport aircraft, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles. The Sukhoi Su-30MKI, assembled in India, forms the major inventory of the Indian combat aircraft. HAL Tejas, the indigenous fourth generation fighter aircraft, became part of the air force in 2015. Dassault Rafale is the latest entry into the air force, having been inducted in July 2020. Other combat aircraft include the Russian Mikoyan MiG-29, French Dassault Mirage, and British SEPECAT Jaguar aircraft. The armed forces operate a combination of various transport aircraft including tactical and strategic airlifters. Majority of this fleet is composed of the legacy Antonov An-32, Dornier 228, and Hawker Siddeley HS 748 aircraft. In the 2010s, the air force inducted large American air-lifters such as Boeing C-17 and Lockheed Martin C-130J into the fleet. In 2023, it started inducting Airbus C-295 transport aircraft to replace the older aircraft in its fleet. The Indian helicopter fleet consists of the French Aérospatiale Alouette III and SA 315B Lama, which were license built in India. The Russian made Mil Mi-17 and Mi-24 forms the major complement of the helicopter fleet. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has designed and built various helicopters locally for the usage of armed forces such as the HAL Dhruv, Prachand, and Rudra. Since the late 2020s, India has inducted American made Boeing AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook into the fleet. The Indian fleet also consists of various other reconnaissance and trainer aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles which include both local and imported planes.