India Rising
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NEW DELHI: Even as the Americans, Europeans and Russians jostle to bag the ‘‘ mother of all defence deals’’ , India too is now pressing the throttle to ensure the contract to acquire 126 new fighters under the Rs 42,000-crore medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) project is inked by mid-2011 . “We will be signing the contract within a year. The flight evaluation report on the bidding aircraft will be ready by this month-end ,” Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said.
The IAF, after all, wants to induct the first lot of these 126 fighters by 2014 to retain its combat edge. It is left with just 32 fighter squadrons (each has 12 to 18 jets) at present , down from the ‘‘ sanctioned’ ’ strength of 39.5 squadrons. This when Pakistan is getting new American F-16 s and Chinese fighters , while China assiduously builds new airbases in Tibet and south China.
‘‘ We are ready with the flight evaluation trials (FET) report of the six foreign fighters in contention. Based on it, we are right now generating the staff evaluation report. Both will be submitted to defence ministry by this monthend ,’’ said IAF chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik, in an exclusive interview to TOI. The eagerly-awaited reports, which have evaluated the fighters on as many as 643 technical attributes after gruelling field trials, will be followed by evaluation of offset proposals, opening of commercial bids and the final complex negotiations.
The hotly-contested race to bag the lucrative MMRCA project, the largest such programme around the globe, is among F/A-18 ‘Super Hornet’ and F-16 ‘Falcon’ (both US), Gripen (Swedish), Rafale (French), MiG-35 (Russian) and Eurofighter Typhoon jets.
‘‘ We definitely need the MMRCA, LCA (the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft ) and FGFA (the fifth-generation fighter aircraft to be developed with Russia) without any delays to retain our combat edge,’’ said ACM Naik. ‘‘ We also have signed deals for 230 Sukhoi-30 MKI fighters (over 110 have been inducted) with Russia. Another 42 Sukhois will be ordered soon. We want at least 42 fighter squadrons by 2022,’’ he added.
All eyes, of course, are on the MMRCA project. “The trials have been conducted in an exemplary, fair and professional manner. We have to be very transparent because the deal is very large,’’ said the IAF chief. ‘‘The amount of data collated in our voluminous and exhaustive reports is phenomenal. They, in fact, can serve as a template to evaluate aircraft by any country,’’ he added.
As reported earlier, India is also likely to factor in its geostrategic interests while deciding the MMRCA winner, with PM Manmohan Singh himself holding that large defence deals must be leveraged to serve the country’s larger diplomatic ends.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6180295.cms
boys v have to atleast wait for one more yr.
The IAF, after all, wants to induct the first lot of these 126 fighters by 2014 to retain its combat edge. It is left with just 32 fighter squadrons (each has 12 to 18 jets) at present , down from the ‘‘ sanctioned’ ’ strength of 39.5 squadrons. This when Pakistan is getting new American F-16 s and Chinese fighters , while China assiduously builds new airbases in Tibet and south China.
‘‘ We are ready with the flight evaluation trials (FET) report of the six foreign fighters in contention. Based on it, we are right now generating the staff evaluation report. Both will be submitted to defence ministry by this monthend ,’’ said IAF chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik, in an exclusive interview to TOI. The eagerly-awaited reports, which have evaluated the fighters on as many as 643 technical attributes after gruelling field trials, will be followed by evaluation of offset proposals, opening of commercial bids and the final complex negotiations.
The hotly-contested race to bag the lucrative MMRCA project, the largest such programme around the globe, is among F/A-18 ‘Super Hornet’ and F-16 ‘Falcon’ (both US), Gripen (Swedish), Rafale (French), MiG-35 (Russian) and Eurofighter Typhoon jets.
‘‘ We definitely need the MMRCA, LCA (the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft ) and FGFA (the fifth-generation fighter aircraft to be developed with Russia) without any delays to retain our combat edge,’’ said ACM Naik. ‘‘ We also have signed deals for 230 Sukhoi-30 MKI fighters (over 110 have been inducted) with Russia. Another 42 Sukhois will be ordered soon. We want at least 42 fighter squadrons by 2022,’’ he added.
All eyes, of course, are on the MMRCA project. “The trials have been conducted in an exemplary, fair and professional manner. We have to be very transparent because the deal is very large,’’ said the IAF chief. ‘‘The amount of data collated in our voluminous and exhaustive reports is phenomenal. They, in fact, can serve as a template to evaluate aircraft by any country,’’ he added.
As reported earlier, India is also likely to factor in its geostrategic interests while deciding the MMRCA winner, with PM Manmohan Singh himself holding that large defence deals must be leveraged to serve the country’s larger diplomatic ends.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6180295.cms
boys v have to atleast wait for one more yr.
