Chandigarh: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government axed Edwin Lutyens’ bust from Rashtrapati Bhavan in the name of decolonisation, its simultaneous move to acquire new executive jets for senior defence officials and service chiefs underscores the fact that, while monuments can be destroyed, the colonial instinct for exclusive airborne privilege at the apex of power endures.Industry sources said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has recently set in motion the modernisation of India’s secondary VIP airlift capability – a decision that perpetuates a colonial-era tradition of insulated aerial mobility for those at the apex of power, beyond the president, vice president, and prime minister.Its Request for Information (RfI) to domestic and international vendors, seeking business jets for the Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) ‘Pegasus’ Air Headquarters Communication Squadron (AHCS) at Palam, aims to replace platforms that have served for just over two decades and sustain a dedicated air fleet for the country’s uniformed military leadership and senior MoD officials.This planned acquisition highlights the priority given to executive mobility, underscoring how the IAF maintains a dedicated, high-comfort fleet for the military and MoD’s top leadership, even as operational aircraft endure far harsher conditions.The irony is stark and telling: executive jets, operating predictable and relatively low-stress profiles, are slated for replacement by the MoD after 20-odd years, while frontline IAF fighters – subjected to punishing high-G manoeuvres, extreme climates, and sustained operational demands across varied and harsh environments, alongside a myriad other man stressful challenges – routinely soldier on for 30, 40, even 50 years.The Soviet-era Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s, for instance, which finally retired last September, after nearly six decades of active service, symbolised this culture of prolonged use, while the Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguars inducted in the late 1970s, continue in upgraded form, well past 40 years. France’s Dassault Mirage-2000Hs, operational since the mid-1980s, remain combat-relevant after extensive modernisation and the Russian Mikoyan MiG-29, inducted into the IAF in 1987, has likewise crossed the three-decade mark and continues flying after structural and avionics upgrades.And, the Su-30MKI multi-role fighter, which joined IAF service in 2002, and constitutes the backbone of its fighter fleet, has already crossed two decades of heavy operational service and is structurally cleared for a ‘Super Sukhoi’ upgrade that is expected to keep it flying into the 2040s.In other words, all these multiple aircraft – which routinely undertake long-range strike profiles and air dominance missions – are being modernised and life-extended to serve 35–40 years or more, even as the four far less-taxed Brazil-origin Embraer EMB-135J Legacy 600 executive jets, inducted in 2005 to ferry senior politicians, defence officials and civil servants, are being lined up for replacement. “The disparity is striking and telling: combat aircraft are life-extended, upgraded, and structurally reinforced to squeeze out every remaining flying hour, while the jets ferrying the system’s elite are replaced swiftly and routinely,” said a two-star IAF veteran, formerly with the Air Headquarters Communication Squadron (AHCS). One set of aircraft is pushed to the limits for national defence, he added, requesting anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject, while the other is renewed for senior officials’ comfort. According to Thursday’s The Hindu report, the RfI for the replacement jets transporting senior defence officials was prompted by the January 28 crash of a privately operated Lear Jet 45XR in Baramati, in which Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and four others were killed. The accident understandably heightened concerns over executive jet safety, but the paradox remains hard to ignore.Every major fighter type in IAF service – besides other transport and trainer aircraft – has suffered multiple crashes over decades.The MiG-21 alone was involved in over 400 accidents during its long career in India, resulting in the loss of around 200 pilots and dozens of civilians on the ground. The IAF’s MiG-23 fleet – comprising the MF interceptor and BN ground-attack variants – also recorded numerous accidents through the 1980s and 1990s before being phased out in 2007, and so did the MiG-27, which remained in frontline service for decades, until December 2019.Besides them, Jaguars, Mirage 2000Hs, MiG-29s, and even Su-30MKIs have all recorded their share of attrition through accidents and technical failures. Yet, none of these recurring incidents appears to have prompted the MoD’s upper echelons to consider either immediate replacement or substantial remedial measures, given that accidents are inevitable in any air force.Instead, these fighters were upgraded, life-extended, structurally reinforced and repeatedly modernised to squeeze out additional decades of service life. “Such institutional tolerance for prolonged strain on critical frontline assets speaks volumes about where platform replacement urgency is, and is not, ultimately directed,” said the IAF officer.That disparity, he suggested, is hardly new but historical – a direct inheritance from the Raj, when the ruling executive relied on dedicated, insulated and safe air mobility. Then as now, British Viceroys, governors, commanders-in-chief and senior soldiers traversed the subcontinent in exclusive aircraft, with aviation serving as much a symbol of authority as a means of transport, he added.Hence, in January 1947, the Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) formed a Communication Squadron to meet VIP transport needs – a small fleet designed to ferry the empire’s ruling elite across the subcontinent. After Independence, this morphed into the AHCS, inheriting not just aircraft and infrastructure, but the very logic of executive privilege. The empire, it seemed, may have been formally banished, yet the architecture of aerial exclusivity remained with ‘dedicated’ aircraft for senior defence officials and service chiefs.The early AHCS VIP fleet – comprising Airspeed Oxfords, Douglas Dakotas, and later de Havilland Doves – reflected WW2 British platforms. Over time, however, what began as imperial operational convenience evolved into an institutionalised doctrine of executive mobility, and as the Indian state consolidated, its VIP fleet too modernised alongside it. However, early generations of IAF officers, inheriting the irreverence of their RIAF predecessors, jokingly referred to the AHCS as the “Flying Wheelchair” service, a wry reminder that the colonial instinct for insulated and privileged mobility in exclusive aircraft persisted long after the Raj had ended.Relatively advanced Vickers Viscounts arrived in 1956, followed by Hawker Siddeley ‘Avro’ HS-748s and specially configured Soviet Tupolev Tu-124 jets in the 1960s. But the 1977 crash of a Tu-124 carrying former Prime Minister Morarji Desai – fatal for the crew but survived by the passengers, including the prime miniter himself – led in 1980 to the induction of three customised Air India Boeing 737-200 Business Jets for the exclusive use of the president, vice president, and prime minister, while the others made do with the older platforms. In 2009, the 737-200 aircraft were replaced by three Boeing 747-7HIs – named Rajdoot, Rajhans, and Rajkamal – each fitted with an office and bedroom, and equipped with advanced missile defence and self-protection systems, at a cost of Rs 934 crore. In late 2020, these were followed by two customised Boeing 777-300ERs, acquired for Rs 8,458 crore, featuring encrypted satellite communications, electronic countermeasures, and shielding against electromagnetic pulse (EMP) effects.Parallely, in colonial mode, the IAF acquired four 14-seat Embraer Legacy 600 executive jets for $1.4 billion to transport second-tier VIPs, including senior ministers, top bureaucrats, and defence officials. These jets, now slated for replacement under the MoD’s RfI, perpetuated the colonial-era logic of insulated executive mobility, embedding a tradition of exclusive aerial privilege that continues to shape India’s VIP transport culture – not only in the air, but on the ground as well.In tandem, the AHCS operates a rotary wing fleet for VVIPs, now centred on modified 12-16 Russian Mi 17V5 helicopters- acquired between 2001 and 2016-fitted with enhanced interiors, secure communications, and defensive aids. Earlier plans in 2010 to induct bespoke AgustaWestland AW 101 helicopters from Italy were shelved, leaving the upgraded Mi 17V5s as the VIP’s mainstay. The MoD, meanwhile, continues to actively explore next-generation helicopters for VVIP travel, in keeping with its primary objective of ensuring that the travel requirements of India’s top leaders are met.In the end, the removal of Lutyens’ bust may erase a stone from Delhi, but it cannot touch the skies. An elite aerial corridor endures, ferrying India’s rulers in insulated jets and helicopters – a direct, unbroken continuation of the Raj’s logic of exclusive mobility.Symbols, after all, can be smashed, streets renamed, monuments torn down, traditions junked, yet the colonial mindset of privilege and insulated authority survives, soaring high above the citizenry in India’s still-exclusionary VIP air lanes.