Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh on Saturday said that delay in delivery of fighter jets is “hurting” the force. Referring to the number of combat jets and scheduled phasing out of older planes, he said the “numbers are getting reduced”.Separately, on military reform of carving out geographically defined theatre commands, the IAF Chief cautioned that lessons from ‘Operation Sindoor’ need to be factored in before a final decision is made.The IAF Chief was addressing the annual press conference ahead of Air Force Day (October 8). On the shortage of jets, he pinned hopes on the future of multiple jet-making programmes in the private sector as well as public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).“Going ahead, we need anything between 36-40 jets annually,” Air Chief Marshal Singh said. Answering a question on delays in getting fighter jets, he said, “It is hurting us. There is no doubt about that.”With older fleets set to be phased out, the numbers could drop further. The IAF, at present, has 30 squadrons against a mandated need for 42 squadrons for a two-front war against China and Pakistan. Some of the squadrons are set to retire over the next few years.In the future, the IAF Chief pinned hopes on getting 24 Tejas Mark 1A jets annually from HAL and another 12 jets annually from the future order of 114 Rafale jets. “The deal for 114 jets could happen within this fiscal,” he said, answering a question. Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of Rafale, will be making 96 of these jets in India.“In case these things go through as planned, we will be able to achieve our set pace of growth,” the IAF Chief said.On India getting a fifth-generation jet, he said, “Russians have offered it (Sukhoi-57), but no decision has been taken so far. We need a plane of this class. In case the indigenous fifth-generation jet, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, is getting delayed, we need to take a call on getting a fifth-generation plane.”The IAF chief accepted, “China giving a fifth-generation plane to Pakistan is a matter of concern, but not a major concern.” Pakistan had air power even earlier, but the outcome during Operation Sindoor demonstrated that simply having advanced aircraft is not enough.Addressing the issue of having theatre commands, the IAF Chief said, “We have a new situation which we saw after Operation Sindoor… So, my only point is that we should look at all those and then take a decision…maybe a slightly better option on what kind of organisation (of theatre commands) we need to make, in what sequence it should be made,” he added. Also, there are issues if the theatre commands should be created in one go or should it be incremental. On his scheduled retirement on October 31, he said, “We will have fresh minds looking at it.”Theatre commands are military formations with geographically defined areas of operation headed by a military commander, who exercises control over war-fighting assets, including aircraft, helicopters, guns, tanks, equipment and manpower.