More Super Hornet Pic's
Super Hornet Video's
Posted on 03/28/2005 10:30:55 PM PST by Righty_McRight
Boeing Co. could get a chance to sell its St. Louis-built F/A-18 Super Hornet to India after the administration of President George W. Bush reversed a 15-year ban and agreed to supply F-16 fighter jets to neighboring Pakistan.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently said U.S. defense companies will be allowed to bid on India's expected request for information on advanced fighter jets.
"If the F/A-18 is one of those airplanes, Boeing is pleased that the U.S. would allow us to compete," Boeing spokesman Tom Young said Monday. "But until we understand what those requirements are, it's premature to speculate on that."
With minor exceptions, India has been locked out of the market for U.S. arms, mostly relying on Soviet Union-era MiG fighters.
Up to 5,000 Boeing employees in St. Louis work on the Super Hornet program. The unit cost for the plane is about $50 million. The only current customer - and a good one - is the U.S. Navy.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Now that's a good looking beast. I hope India goes for it.
Right now the Indians are pissed off with the US. I dont think they would go for any arms deals!! They get great deals from the Russians and the French anyways.
This is a funny situation - India doesnt need the F16 as much as it needs to prevent Pakistan from getting those planes. Tehy will never buy the F/A 18 from Boeing. Not on their radar..
If it comes with the toys that the US sells folks like South Korea or if the US allows the use of Israeli systems along with political guarantees(against sanctions),then why not!!!!!If Boeing wins this deal,which could go up to 8 billion plus US $ given the number being purchase,it will be among the biggest armsdeals in recent times.
Does the F-18 Super Hornet meet the Indian needs though? I heard Lockheed might be allowed to make a custom F-16 for India. If that's true then I guess boeing would also. Is SLAM-ER one of the toys you want?
Well if you remember those articles about the MRCA competition,you would have noted that most of the contending designs,barring the Mig-29M2 were single-engined.I think the IAF has become more flexible.The F/A-18 has most of the characteristics,if not better of the other planes on offer.Cost could be a factor though.But the overwhelming concern would be political-TOT as well as sanctions & that would considerably weigh against any American jet.India has been eyeing the Israeli Popeye-Lite missile for sometime now & with Indo-US ties on an upswing,I think that deal will go ahead,if it has not already happened.Im not sure if India would go as far as to buy an American cruise missile(who knows if the US even offers it).The Indian airforce SU-30s can deploy a land attack version of the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile,but it would be too heavy for most other jets.
Also I'm not sure that the Russians can offer anything near the Super Hornet's capability. The Mig-29? Please. The French Rafale is good but I'm sure Boeing can sweeten the pot in ways the French can only dream of. The idea is to make the first sale and make India a repeat buyer.
Our people are the best salesmen in the world :-) BTW, I'm sure the F-16 has more fans but I personally am an F-15 man with the Tomcat after that. Hornets are my number 3 favorite fighters.
I know you guys like arranged marriages but we folks like to date a while before making a commitment and that too nowadays is not done without a prenup if either side is worth anything. :-)
Well, Boeing just wants to sell you the plane. They'll make it fire whaaaaatever you want. If the Paki taint is on the F-16 then buying the F-18 from lockheed's rival is a good thing!
Bingo, I think you hit the nail on the head about TOT.Another factor is that the Russians(& the French) are in desperate need of a big order.The last big order for any Mig-29 variant was by the Indian navy & the French have had no luck with their Rafales or upgraded Mirage-2005Mk2s.That makes them susceptible to armtwisting by India.Both Boeing & LM have had a whale of time,with new deals still expected.Malaysia & Kuwait are considering the Superhornet & Egypt is eyeing a big F-16 order(100 planes).So the US has no reason to dance around with India.
Form India's point of view, no TOT no deal. Thats how it has been with most of the large deals. For India it the technology not the fighter thats important.
The Russians and French would be willing to give anything we ask for. Moreover Delhi is pissed with the US over the F-16 deal. Its still early days to jump in for the F-18.
My personal favourite is the EF-2000.
My question is, where would customer service calls from India be sent?
The American planes are the only ones to see extended combat.
Even the Russian and French ones get to see extended combat (but only when they have an Indian pilot inside it). =)
"BTW, I'm sure the F-16 has more fans but I personally am an F-15 man with the Tomcat after that. Hornets are my number 3 favorite fighters."
But what I heard was that the Indians had beaten the crap out of the F-15s with Su-30s. What if the Indians are not very impressed with the US jets ?
Not the ones they are trying to buy.
During the Kargil war an Indian pilot (on a Mig29) had locked onto 2 F-16s simultanously with AA-10s(BVR) at maximum range. The F-16s meekly turned away and went back.
The pilot was later on awarded a gallentry medal.
Interesting although I doubt you could compare an incident like that to the amount of combat experienced by the F-18 and F-16.
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