The acquisition of the S-400, differing points of view on the war in Ukraine, eye-watering costs, a domestic 5th gen fighter program and never having operated any U.S. fighter aircraft are some of the reasons why India can’t and shouldn’t consider the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
Lockheed Martin’s Vivek Lall welcomed the IAF’s open contest for 110 fighter aircraft and explained why he thinks the F-16 makes a good case for India.
Supriyo Gupta warns of a coming Artificial Intelligence apartheid, akin to the nuclear, missile and supercomputer apartheid India faced and argues that India should get ahead of AI apartheid through fighter technology.
This is the second and concluding installment of the two-part analysis of the process of acquisition of 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Let’s speculate about the Indian Air Force USD 10 billion tender for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) and draw some conclusions, for fun.
The United States Air Force F-22 Raptor’s planned evolution includes an auto recovery system, called the Auto Ground Collision Avoidance System). This system allows the aircraft to recover to level flight, automatically, if the pilot is momentarily incapacitated.
The Indian industry association, FICCI has argued for limiting FDI in the Indian defense sector to, at most, 49 per cent, following CII, which had submitted similar views last May.
The US Navy has compared the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet to fifth generation fighter aircraft, making a strong pitch for its selection in the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contest of the Indian Air Force (IAF). It also said intends to keep the aircraft in service beyond 2035.
Calling the MMRCA important for the company, Orville Prins of Lockheed Martin indicated some of the other contenders in the race to be fighting to survive.
The fighter is in the running for the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft tender floated by the Indian government along with five other contenders. John Giese of Lockheed Martin says, “By offering the Super Viper to the IAF we’re offering exactly what they asked for in the tender. The IN is designed to meet IAF specifications.”
