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Seeds of Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) requirements can be traced back to Kargil conflict more than a decade ago. When Indian air force was pressed into service to clear Mountain peaks in Kargil of Pakistani Army Regulars and Terrorist, many serving aircrafts from the Indian air force inventory like Mig-21/27/29, Jaguars and Mirage 2000D were pressed into service in various roles.
While Mig-29 with its limited Ground Attack Capability mostly was used in Combat air Patrol (CAP)or to provide escort for other aircrafts, while Mig-27 and Jaguars which are low flying deep penetration Bomber aircrafts were found insufficient to carry out operations in high Himalayan Mountains and were definitely did not had the adequate technology or ammunitions to even carry such high level of Mountainous Bombing mission, most of the bombing mission by this aircrafts failed to find its target right and missed it completely.
Mirage-2000D Multi-role fighter aircrafts came in as a face saving measure for the Indian Air force, with some modification with Israeli help Mirage pilots were able to hit targets in the later part of the war .
After the War ended, Mirage -2000D was the Hero of the Kargil War for Indian Air force. There are other factors too which contributed in the requirement of MMRCA, Indias Home grown Aircraft LCA bogged by constant delays had not even taken its first flight then and IAF did not had much confidence in the program itself back then and Mig-21 airworthiness was constantly questioned by the Media and People due to frequent crashes .
Indian Air force immediately wanted to acquire 126 Mirage-2000-5 Aircrafts in 2001 which is a better variant of the Mirage-2000D which IAF already operated, IAF was also impressed by the Mirage 2000's capabilities during the Kargil War.
Ministry of Defence (MOD) was not happy about single Vendor Deal and made it Multi-vendor deal, then came other aircrafts in the race just before the Requests for Information (RFI) were issued Aircrafts Manufactures who where in the race where Dassault (Mirage 2000-5 ), Saab (JAS 39 Gripen C/D) and Mikoyan (MiG-29OVT).
Twist came when then Defence Minister Pranab Mukerji in an interview said that RFI will also be send to American companies ,it was unexpected for many since IAF never operated any American Jets in its long History, this announcement by Defence minister saw lot of activates in Pentagon ,it was totally unexpected for Americans Military officials.
There was confusion In American Companies too, only after US government gave clearance the confusion was cleared. In 2004 the Requests for Information (RFI) were issued to only four vendors Dassault (Mirage 2000-5), Saab (JAS 39 Gripen C/D), Mikoyan (MiG-29OVT) and Lockheed Martin (F-16C and D).
Later on competition got bigger when Boeing and EADs jumped in with F-18 E/F and Euro-fighter which where technically more superior to what was offered by other aircraft manufactures.
To stay in the race and not be left out Dassault replaced Mirage-2000-V with their latest fighter Rafale, then came back to back changes in offers from other manufactures as well Lockheed Martin offered F-16 NG or now called F-16 IN which is an advance variant of F-16 Block 60 which only air force of UAE has in its inventory.
While Russians pulled out Mig-29ovt based on a Old airframe of Mig-29 and brought in a new full fledged aircraft with its own new airframe with design similarities and other changes and designated it Mig-35, while Swiss not to be left behind in the biggest fighter aircraft deal in decades to come announced a New Gripen which was called Gripen NG (Next Generation).
RFPs was getting delayed due to changes in the Indian defence procurements which included Total Life-cycle Costs for first time, finally on June 2007 211 pages RFI was issued to the 6 bidding companies and Bids where to be submitted within 6 months from the date of issue which was in March 2008, deadline was extended due to request was made by some bidders due complexity in the RFI and deadline was extended by one month.
After which the technical evaluation of the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) was completed by 18 November 2008. Field trials of the MRCA aircrafts soon began, F-18/F-16 and Rafale where first to arrive in India and then it will be followed by Gripen NG, Eurofighter and Mig-35, after field trials are completed in India, Weapons Trials will be completed in the home countries of the Aircraft Manufactures.
After technical and field evaluations is completed it will be examined and compared, and a winner announced , After the winner is chosen, there will be further rounds of negotiation to decide the final price, as well as sensor suite and aircraft configuration, along with other factors, like offsets and maintenance.
Source: India progressing on Aircraft technology - CombatAircraft.com News
While Mig-29 with its limited Ground Attack Capability mostly was used in Combat air Patrol (CAP)or to provide escort for other aircrafts, while Mig-27 and Jaguars which are low flying deep penetration Bomber aircrafts were found insufficient to carry out operations in high Himalayan Mountains and were definitely did not had the adequate technology or ammunitions to even carry such high level of Mountainous Bombing mission, most of the bombing mission by this aircrafts failed to find its target right and missed it completely.
Mirage-2000D Multi-role fighter aircrafts came in as a face saving measure for the Indian Air force, with some modification with Israeli help Mirage pilots were able to hit targets in the later part of the war .
After the War ended, Mirage -2000D was the Hero of the Kargil War for Indian Air force. There are other factors too which contributed in the requirement of MMRCA, Indias Home grown Aircraft LCA bogged by constant delays had not even taken its first flight then and IAF did not had much confidence in the program itself back then and Mig-21 airworthiness was constantly questioned by the Media and People due to frequent crashes .
Indian Air force immediately wanted to acquire 126 Mirage-2000-5 Aircrafts in 2001 which is a better variant of the Mirage-2000D which IAF already operated, IAF was also impressed by the Mirage 2000's capabilities during the Kargil War.
Ministry of Defence (MOD) was not happy about single Vendor Deal and made it Multi-vendor deal, then came other aircrafts in the race just before the Requests for Information (RFI) were issued Aircrafts Manufactures who where in the race where Dassault (Mirage 2000-5 ), Saab (JAS 39 Gripen C/D) and Mikoyan (MiG-29OVT).
Twist came when then Defence Minister Pranab Mukerji in an interview said that RFI will also be send to American companies ,it was unexpected for many since IAF never operated any American Jets in its long History, this announcement by Defence minister saw lot of activates in Pentagon ,it was totally unexpected for Americans Military officials.
There was confusion In American Companies too, only after US government gave clearance the confusion was cleared. In 2004 the Requests for Information (RFI) were issued to only four vendors Dassault (Mirage 2000-5), Saab (JAS 39 Gripen C/D), Mikoyan (MiG-29OVT) and Lockheed Martin (F-16C and D).
Later on competition got bigger when Boeing and EADs jumped in with F-18 E/F and Euro-fighter which where technically more superior to what was offered by other aircraft manufactures.
To stay in the race and not be left out Dassault replaced Mirage-2000-V with their latest fighter Rafale, then came back to back changes in offers from other manufactures as well Lockheed Martin offered F-16 NG or now called F-16 IN which is an advance variant of F-16 Block 60 which only air force of UAE has in its inventory.
While Russians pulled out Mig-29ovt based on a Old airframe of Mig-29 and brought in a new full fledged aircraft with its own new airframe with design similarities and other changes and designated it Mig-35, while Swiss not to be left behind in the biggest fighter aircraft deal in decades to come announced a New Gripen which was called Gripen NG (Next Generation).
RFPs was getting delayed due to changes in the Indian defence procurements which included Total Life-cycle Costs for first time, finally on June 2007 211 pages RFI was issued to the 6 bidding companies and Bids where to be submitted within 6 months from the date of issue which was in March 2008, deadline was extended due to request was made by some bidders due complexity in the RFI and deadline was extended by one month.
After which the technical evaluation of the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) was completed by 18 November 2008. Field trials of the MRCA aircrafts soon began, F-18/F-16 and Rafale where first to arrive in India and then it will be followed by Gripen NG, Eurofighter and Mig-35, after field trials are completed in India, Weapons Trials will be completed in the home countries of the Aircraft Manufactures.
After technical and field evaluations is completed it will be examined and compared, and a winner announced , After the winner is chosen, there will be further rounds of negotiation to decide the final price, as well as sensor suite and aircraft configuration, along with other factors, like offsets and maintenance.
Source: India progressing on Aircraft technology - CombatAircraft.com News
