Navy Dogfight Begins: India Opens Talks with
Boeing & Dassault (excerpt)
(Source: Livefist; posted Jan 06, 2018)
By Shiv Aroor
The Indian Navy has officially opened vendor discussions
with Boeing Defense and Dassault Aviation under its most ambitious current
aviation thrust, a quest for 57 multirole fighters to operate off its future
aircraft carriers. Livefist can confirm that while the navy did receive four
responses in response to its call for information last year, only two are being
regarded as ‘serious contenders’.
A top Indian Navy aviation and procurement officer
confirmed proceedings on the Multirole Carrier Borne Fighter (MRCBF) project to
Livefist. He said, “We are treating only two of the responses as being from
serious and ready contenders. This is in the interests of our current
requirements and timelines.”
As projected here on Livefist before, the contest is
progressing as a direct face-off between Boeing’s F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet
and a modified version of Dassault’s Rafale M F3R standard. Livefist can
confirm that the Indian Navy isn’t regarding by the same measure of seriousness
the two other responses it has received — from Russia for the MiG-29K and from
Sweden’s Saab for the concept Gripen Maritime. It is all but official,
therefore, that these last two contenders don’t have a place in the potential
race.
A request for proposal (RfP) process for the 57 naval
fighters, to be executed under the Strategic Partnership (SP) model, could
begin later this year. The navy is in the process of finetuning operational
staff requirements before freezing naval air staff requirements (NASR).
While the navy hasn’t stipulated engine numbers and
launch configuration in its RFI sent out last year, Livefist gathers that
planners are steeply inclined towards catapult launch (CATOBAR) operations, all
but confirming that India’s future aircraft carriers (IAC-2 onwards) will be
flat-top vessels, rather than the ski-jump fitted aircraft carriers it has
operated thus far (barring the original INS Vikrant in its early
configuration). India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, the new
Vikrant-class, will be a ski-jump fitted ship like the INS Vikramaditya and INS
Viraat before it. (end of excerpt)
Original post: defense-aerospace.com
As projected here on Livefist before, the contest is progressing as a direct face-off between Boeing’s F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet and a modified version of Dassault’s Rafale M F3R standard. Livefist can confirm that the Indian Navy isn’t regarding by the same measure of seriousness the two other responses it has received — from Russia for the MiG-29K and from Sweden’s Saab for the concept Gripen Maritime.
Related articles:
Dassault Rafale: Details
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: Details
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