MiG-35 has the greatest chance of becoming an outsider of the Indian tender
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the Indian MMRCA tender worth 10 billion US dollars, as it is believed that the winner of the competition will have the opportunity to produce its fighters for another ten years with the possibility of receiving new orders, and the losers will curtail the release of their combat aircraft (submitted for tender) in the middle of this decade for the era of F-35 will come.
The American company Boeing offers the Indian Air Force its F / A-18E / F Super Hornet, and its main rival Lockheed Martin is the F-16IN Super Viper, which, in essence, is the F-16 Block 60. Swedish SAAB offers Gripen IN, French Dassault fights for the first export order for the Rafale fighter, Eurofighter lures the Indians with the Typhoon fighter, long-time Indian defense partner Russia offers a radically modernized version of the MiG-29 fighter - the MiG-35.
According to representatives of the Indian Air Force, all technical evaluations have been completed, and the next stage, which will follow after the completion of the Aero India 2011 exhibition, will be the opening of commercial packages of competing firms for which one of them offers the lowest financial costs. Based on technical and financial parameters, outsiders will be screened out and a short list will be compiled. But in itself, the fighter does not solve all questions, it is the subject of big politics. Identification of the winner may be delayed until the end of this year.
The fighters participating in the tender were examined for compliance with the requirements of the Indian Air Force 660, the manufacturing companies provided technical documentation for their aircraft on the 5000-6000 pages each. The aircraft were tested in bases located in various climatic zones of India (Bangalore - the tropics, Gilesaymer - the desert, Lech - the mountains of Tibet).
As for the most likely candidate to leave the tender, they are considered to be the Russian MiG-35. The fact is that the Indian Air Force already has the largest fleet of Russian combat aircraft. In 2010, India also purchased X-NUMX Su-40MKI fighter jets, which can be considered as a fee for the outside siding of the MiG-30. In addition, India still remembers excessive dependence on Russia in terms of logistics, when the USSR collapsed at the beginning of the 35-s. This event caused a collapse in the supply of spare parts for the fleet of MiG fighters.
Concerning the US, there are concerns about the possible imposition of sanctions, as happened in the 1998 year, when India carried out nuclear tests weapons. Says a retired officer who served as a junior lieutenant at the time, a pilot of a helicopter of the Indian Navy: “The US sanctions made a very deep impression. At that time, we sent several helicopter gearboxes to the UK for repair, but under pressure from the Americans, the British did not accept these mechanisms, and it was very painful to see how we lose our operational capabilities in using these helicopters. ”
Lockheed Martin F-16IN Super Viper
The F-16IN fighter (F-16 Block 60) is equipped with a radar with active groundwork Northrop Grumman APG-80 and a General Electric F110-132A engine. The plane made more than 100 thousands of combat missions, the score of air battles with enemy planes is 72-0 (none was lost). More than 4000 aircraft of this type have been built, of which 928 are produced by foreign companies under an American license, thus increasing the output of these machines will not be a problem.
Dassault Rafale
The fighter has proven itself during combat operations in Afghanistan. His predecessor Mirage-2000 in 1999 successfully participated in the highland conflict in Kargil with Pakistan.
Boeing F / A-18E / F Super Hornet
At the end of October, Boeing 2010 announced that its aircraft had the greatest chance of winning the tender. One of its potential advantages is the General Electric F414 engine, which will be used on the new modification of the Indian light fighter Tejas MkII. In addition, the company offered India to get involved in the creation of the Super Hornet variant with conformal fuel tanks, internal weapon compartments and equipped with other advanced systems.
SAAB Gripen IN
The basic version of the fighter is in service with the Air Force in Sweden, Hungary and South Africa. Like the Super Hornet, the Swedish fighter is equipped with a General Electric F414 engine that will be used on the Tejas MkII. Initially, the Gripen was created with the possibility of using from the freeways, when the “big neighbor” attacked the country would deprive the Swedish Air Force of home airfields. The strengths are also the low cost of a single-engine aircraft, the complete openness of Sweden on technology transfer and the reliability of the fighter design.
Eurofighter Typhoon
The consortium offers India the status of a full-fledged program partner, guarantees an “ambitious” technology transfer, and advertises its fighter as a combat aircraft capable of simultaneously performing air-to-air and air-to-surface tasks simultaneously and equally effectively. India will have a share of the subsequent sales of the fighter.
RSK MiG-35
Previously known as the MiG-29OVT, this fighter is advertised as an aircraft of the 4 ++ generation. The aircraft can carry weapons on nine external suspension assemblies and perform the role of a tanker. At the request of the client, the MiG-35 can be equipped with a full-scale engine thrust control system.
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