Indian Navy, in January, issued a Request for
Information to procure 57 multi-role combat aircrafts.
All India | Press Trust of India | Updated:
June 01, 2017 07:57 IST
NEW DELHI:
Four defence companies have shown an interest in providing the Navy with
57 multi-role combat fighter jets for its aircraft carrier, Admiral Sunil Lanba
said on Wednesday. The Navy chief also said the Scorpene submarine Kalvari is
going through its final phase of trials and should be delivered by August.
Having rejected indigenously built 'Tejas' as
too heavy, the Indian Navy in January issued a Request for Information to
procure 57 multi-role combat aircraft for its carrier.
"The Navy has got response from four
players for the RFI. We will examine the RFI and take it forward," Admiral
Lanba said on the sidelines of a seminar organised by FICCI on 'Building
India's Future Navy Technology Imperatives'.
He, however, did not disclose the name of the
companies which have shown interest in the proposal.
At present, the Navy operates 45 MIG-29K jets
which face serviceability issues from time to time.
Currently, six planes are compatible for
aircraft carrier. They are Rafale (Dassault, France), F-18 Super Hornet
(Boeing, US), MIG-29K (Russia), F-35B and F-35C (Lockheed Martin, US) and
Gripen (Saab, Sweden).
While F-18, Rafale and MIG-29K are twin
engine jets, the remaining three have single engine.
The delivery of deck based fighter jets is
expected to take four-five years.
The indigenously built aircraft-carrier
Vikrant should complete trials in 2019. It was likely to be commissioned by
2020, Mr Lanba said.
When asked about the recently approved
Strategic Partnership (SP) model under which select private firms will be
engaged to build military platforms like submarines and battle helicopters, Mr
Lanba said the next step would be to identify strategic partners.
"All three service chiefs will have to
go and get the AONs (Acceptance of Necessity) on what we want to be built
through strategic partners, so that partners in each segment can be
identified... We are hopeful that we should be able to move this process in
next six months," he said.
Four segments - submarines, fighter aircraft,
helicopters and armoured carriers/main battle tanks - were identified under the
new policy, aimed at attracting billions of dollars of investment in defence
manufacturing by private defence majors including leading foreign firms.
The Ministry of Defence had recently scrapped
navy's decision to appoint Flag Officer Delhi Area (FODA) and Flag officer
Gujarat Naval area (FOGNA) without its consent.
Responding to this, Admiral Lanba said,
"We are in discussion with the Ministry of Defence and we will resolve
it."
Original post: ndtv.com
Related post:
Set back for Tejas as Navy rejects Tejas,says ‘overweight’ and does not meet its requirements
Dassault Rafale: Details
MiG-29K: Details
Saab Gripen E: Details
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: Detail
Dassault Rafale: Details
MiG-29K: Details
Saab Gripen E: Details
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: Detail
No comments:
Post a Comment