Tag: F/A-18

Stricken MMRCA vendors not walking away yet

The spurned vendors and countries failing to receive invitations by the Indian Ministry of Defense to extend the validity of their commercial bids for the Indian Air Force (IAF) tender for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), which expired on Thursday, have issued cautious responses indicating that they do not consider the matter closed and that there is, still, much left to be discussed.

EF, Rafale to extend MMRCA bids’ validity to year-end

The Indian Ministry of Defense has asked the European Eurofighter Typhoon consortium and the French Dassault to extend the validity of their commercial bids for the Indian Air Force (IAF) tender for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender till December 31, 2011. StratPost reported the formation of an effective shortlist for the tender,…

India selects EF, Rafale for MMRCA shortlist

StratPost can also confirm that according to the IAF and the ministry, the other aircraft in the fray, the US Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, the US Lockheed Martin Corporation’s F-16, the Russian MiG-35 and the Swedish SAAB’s Gripen did not pass the technical evaluation conducted by the IAF.

Six more Gripens for Thailand

A statement from Saab on Wednesday said the order was worth 2.2 billion Swedish Kronor, around USD 310 million. The Royal Thai Air Force already operates four single-seat ‘C’ variants and two ‘D’ versions of the aircraft, which were acquired in 2008.

Obama in India: No big deal

India is going to be disappointed with President Barack Obama’s visit beginning Saturday after next. The upside of this is that the Indo-US relationship has come a long way in so short a time as to engender expectations that could induce performance anxiety.

Blog: Eurofighter gets good vibes on MMRCA

Bernhard Gerwart, CEO of Military Air Systems at EADS Defence & Security, said, “Yesterday, I had some meetings with the leaders of the IAF and the MoD and it was more or less confirmed that we had done the flight trials very well,” adding, “Mind you it’s just a feeling,” while pointing out the IAF had made no official statement to him.

F/A-18 as good as 5th gen: US Navy

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.