C
coldfire2005
GUEST
F-18, Mirage 2000-V on IAF radar
20 October 2005: Without anything definite, the Indian Air Force is still seriously considering a mix of Boeing F-18s and Dassault Mirage 2000-Vs to meet its projected requirement of one-hundred-and-twenty-six fighter aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of MiG-21s, although the request for proposal has gone to these companies, as well as to Swedenââ¬â¢s Saab for Gripen and Russiaââ¬â¢s MiG.
The F-18 in a naval role would fit the Gorshkov deal, because the US carrier-based aircraft fought very well in Afghanistan in late 2001, and Boeing has offered to outsource its sparesââ¬â¢ production in India, which can also be exported to other users, and France is ready for transferring Mirage 2000-V technology in addition to buying spares license-produced here.
The Russian defence minister, Sergei Ivanov, who was a guest of honour at the recent Indo-Russian joint military exercises, offered to produce a new generation of MiGs in India, but the IAF is cool to the idea of an aircraft that does not even exist, and the defence establishment is looking for warplanes which could at least partly fulfill some of this countryââ¬â¢s power projection needs.
Sources said that the US is not very readily offering the F-18, but could bend if India pressures, assuming it is satisfied that they wonââ¬â¢t be ever sanctioned, while France has stated clearly that Mirage 2000-V is unsanctionable, and that if the entire spares are outsourced here, this country would hold a whip hand, but in looking at the US and France together, this country is leveraging relations with them simultaneously.
20 October 2005: Without anything definite, the Indian Air Force is still seriously considering a mix of Boeing F-18s and Dassault Mirage 2000-Vs to meet its projected requirement of one-hundred-and-twenty-six fighter aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of MiG-21s, although the request for proposal has gone to these companies, as well as to Swedenââ¬â¢s Saab for Gripen and Russiaââ¬â¢s MiG.
The F-18 in a naval role would fit the Gorshkov deal, because the US carrier-based aircraft fought very well in Afghanistan in late 2001, and Boeing has offered to outsource its sparesââ¬â¢ production in India, which can also be exported to other users, and France is ready for transferring Mirage 2000-V technology in addition to buying spares license-produced here.
The Russian defence minister, Sergei Ivanov, who was a guest of honour at the recent Indo-Russian joint military exercises, offered to produce a new generation of MiGs in India, but the IAF is cool to the idea of an aircraft that does not even exist, and the defence establishment is looking for warplanes which could at least partly fulfill some of this countryââ¬â¢s power projection needs.
Sources said that the US is not very readily offering the F-18, but could bend if India pressures, assuming it is satisfied that they wonââ¬â¢t be ever sanctioned, while France has stated clearly that Mirage 2000-V is unsanctionable, and that if the entire spares are outsourced here, this country would hold a whip hand, but in looking at the US and France together, this country is leveraging relations with them simultaneously.
Just found it funny to reactivate one of the first threads in Indian section of PDF!
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