A quiet, hybrid process is underway to buy a reduced number of new fighters for the Indian Navy’s aircraft carriers. But remarkably, some of the fighters being considered can’t operate from aircraft carriers.
These Contractor Sea Trials will be conducted over the next few months and the Vikrant is expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2022. The navy says the ship’s performance, including hull, main propulsion, PGD and auxiliary equipment would be closely monitored during this maiden sailing.
The Indian Navy is set to take a decision on the future of the naval LCA and will be considering alternatives for fighters to operate from what will be a CATOBAR Indigenous Aircraft Carrier-2 (IAC-2).
With the IAF no longer interested in the development of the Mk2, the Indian Navy will undertake a process to determine if they should continue with the development of the model on their own.
While General Atomics’ Predator and Reaper drones are not licensed for export to India, Lall will be promoting a line-up of commercial products, besides the EMALS system being developed by the company.