Tag: Lockheed Martin

Brazilian U-Turn: Relief and Confusion for Rivals

The news of the reprieve is greeted with honest bewilderment. “We don’t know what’s happening,” said one official from the Swedish vendor, a rival to Dassault’s Rafale of France for the Brazilian order. Indications are also being drawn from the absence of the Brazilian Air Force chief at the announcement of the deal.

Rafale wins Brazilian order

This may be significant for the Indian MMRCA contest as five of the original six contenders for the Brazilian order are also vying for Indian Air Force order. “We came up on top in the technical evaluation,” said a source from Dassault, who also indicated the parameters of the two contests to be similar.

F-16 at the MMRCA proving grounds tomorrow

So far, the aircraft was in the week long first phase of trials which consisted of training on the aircraft for Indian Air Force (IAF) test pilots comprising academic exercises, cockpit familiarization as well ‘a bit of flying’, as one insider put it.

F-16 innovates for MMRCA contest

Lockheed Martin has engineered its F-16 fighter to enable it to meet the air-to-air refueling requirements with the ‘Probe and Drogue’ system, a demonstrator of which was displayed at the Paris Air Show recently.

IAF’s MMRCA trials to begin next week

StratPost has been reliably informed that the trials for the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) are slated to begin in the last week of July or the first week of August. Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet is to be the first aircraft that will be tried out for the estimated $ 10 billion order.

Gripen takes a hit in MMRCA race after US bullying: Report

The Jerusalem Post has reported that under US pressure the Israeli Defense Ministry has ordered the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to withdraw from a project to jointly develop the Gripen IN with Gripen’s parent company Saab. The Gripen IN is the aircraft Saab has been proposing to offer the Indian Air Force.

Rafale still in MMRCA Race

The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major implicitly confirmed the French Rafale fighter to be still in the running for the the $ 11 billion 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender, while stating the Technical Evaluations of the six contenders deal had been completed.

Lockheed Martin in F-16 hard-sell

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.”