Posted on 07/22/2005 6:25:15 PM PDT by Righty_McRight
NEW DELHI - U.S. aircraft maker Boeing has joined the race to supply fighter jets to the Indian Air Force, a senior company official said Friday, weeks after the United States and India signed a strategic defense pact.
Responding to a request from the Indian government, Boeing Co. presented its latest multipurpose jet — the F/A-18 Super Hornet — to defense officials in India this week.
"We are pleased to have the opportunity to provide India with a premier aircraft that will help guarantee the security of India and its people," said Chris Chadwick, Boeing vice president for F/A-18 programs.
The Indian Air Force has said it will buy 126 new jet fighters to modernize its fleet. U.S.-based Lockheed Martin Corp. and French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation are also in the race.
The Super Hornet is the U.S. Navy's newest strike fighter, a multi-role combat plane that is capable of both dogfights and carrying out bombing missions. Air forces of seven countries, including Australia and Canada, are using the Super Hornet.
Chadwick said this week's visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington had made the environment more favorable for U.S.-based defense contractors wanting to do business with India.
Price and other details have yet to be worked out, and an order could take up to a year to finalize. Boeing sold the planes to the U.S. Navy for $54 million each, but Chadwick said the price for India would depend on its requirements.
Boeing was also willing to transfer technology and co-produce the planes in India, Chadwick said, and in partnering defense production and space research.
"We have a lot of flexibility in terms of what we can offer to the Indian Air Force, subject to approval by the U.S. government," he said.
Shares of Chicago-based Boeing rose 49 cents to close at $66.20 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Source is AP, not boeing.
Super Hornet kicks butt...
I wanna' put one of those engines in my '99 Taurus...
This is old stuff. India said some months back it has no intentions of purchasing any F18 or F16's. It would prefer S-27 modified or MiG29's. However, the Indian government did express a desire to obtain F35 JSF once avialable.
However, they'd like to load them up with Israeli and US avionics and weapons.
It's a great combo.
Air forces of seven countries operate the Hornet. Currently the US Navy is the sole operator of the Super Hornet.
My view on probabilty
1. Mirage 2000-5/9 Best maounverabilty. Won't add a new aiframe to the inventory.
2, Mig-29 also existing equioment and local production line already exists. should be cheapest.
3. F-16C - good secomd beat in all catergories. Biggest advantage may be political, in establishing military link to US
4. Saab JAS-29 - most modern design, muti-role use planned from the start.
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5. Boeing F-18E/F - It'd make Boeing shareholders happy
"It's a great combo."
And in one on ones our fighters repeatably came out second best, based on articles we viewed at FR two months back.
"The Indian Navy is interested in the JSF. The Super Hornet is still being shopped to the Indian Air Force.
Like I said earlier, they are interested in our Joint Strike Fighter, but all I had read earlier on, indicated they did not want our Surper Hornet because it simply could win out in ACM against some of the Soviet built aircraft mentioned. I am no expert, only going by what I had read at FR recently.
Issues also concerning how to maintin the F18 etc., also came up. MiGs and Su's simply are much easier to maintain.
Well the article says that they are responding to an Indian request,which is far more serious & significant than a token proposal.There was an article in some military publication that the Indian airforce has changed the parameters of it's MRCA programme to twin engined aircraft which would mean that the Mirage-2005 & F-16 are out while the SuperHornet & possibly the French Rafale may get a look in.
The IAF's newest aircraft as of now is the SU-30,which is a variant of the SU-27.About 200 will be in service by 2015,which would put it out of contention for this current contract.A carrier borne variant of the Mig-29 is being purchased for the Indian navy & the IAF hasn't actually had a great time with maintaining it's existing fleet of air defence Mig-29s,which could go against the Fulcrum.
Umm,actually the F-16s biggest handicap is political-any Indian government buying Pakiland's main fighter,will be commiting harakiri as far as public opinion is concerned.Boeing is eyeing space cooperation with India & Indian carriers are becoming among the biggest buyers of Boeing planes-so you could assume that Boeing will not bid to offer systems to Pakistan.& Boeing are reportedly offering more advanced systems for the IAF's Super Hornet WRT F-16.
The JAS-39 maybe the most modern design,but most of it's parameters like payload & range(& even engines) compare with the Indian LCA.The Gripen's avionics may be better,but then there is space for growth in the LCA.Buying the Gripen means killing the LCA,which won't exactly be popular.Besides,buying the Gripen will require you to buy American or French sensors or weapons & those 2 won't oblige when their jets are competing.
There was an article the other day that said India was going with F-35s because the F18 wasn't compatible with their carriers.
The article said that the IN would prefer the JSF for it's Ski-jump carriers to complement the Mig-29K.There is no guarantee the US will offer a satisfactory variant.
I think the Indian defence minister has said that his side is not exactly satisfied with the reaction times that the PAC-3 offers when we talk about Pakistani ballistic missiles.He seems to have said that India will develop a longrange SAM system of it's own.
Thanks for your feedback, regarding su30/MiG29's. Somehow it seems strange to think a carrier version of a MiG29 is realistic. It was never built for the rigors of carrier operations, as supposedly the Su-30MK2 is. At any rate, I am sure we shall hear more on these exchanges in the future.
The Soviet Union built a few prototypes of a carrier capable Mig-29,called the Mig-29K & qualified it on their carriers in the late 80s.But the collapse of the USSR made the project unviable & they wisely settled for the longer ranger,heavy duty SU-33.India was offered a revamped Mig-29K based on the new(er) generation Mig-29M.The IN went for the Mig-29K partially out of necessity as the SU-33(which was actually offered to India) was too heavy for the Admiral Gorshkov carrier,making the carrier require extensive size modifications.Further modifications would have affected the carrier's equilibrium.The only other candidate (then)was the French Rafale,which would have had to be ruled out as the Russians wouldn't allow it.
After I posted. I went to an aviation site, and read a bit of what you mentioned concerning the MiG29K's. Thanks for the
feedback.
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