First test runs with Boeing’s F/A-18 in Indian MMRCA race
Search for India’s new fighter getting down to business
07:20 GMT, August 18, 2009 defpro.com | The true starting signal was given yesterday in the race for one of the decade’s largest fighter aircraft contracts as India began test runs of competing aircraft. However, this race will not be over as fast as Usain Bolt’s latest 9,58-seconds world record, but for the future of the Indian Air Force (IAF) it will be just as significant and ground-breaking. So far, it has been a matter of bidding and talking; now, however, it’s the hardware that will make the difference as tests have begun with the display of Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet in Bangalore, India.
India’s quest to procure126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), which is now making serious progress in India’s centre for aeronautical and space industry, is expected to yield a contract worth some $12 billion for one of the six contending aerospace giants. Besides Boeing’s state-of-the-art fighter, another US company will be presenting its jet as Lockheed Martin is the next on the test schedule with its F-16IN Super Viper. Furthermore, the French Dassault's Rafale, Swiss SAAB's Super Gripen IN, European consortium EADS' Eurofighter Typhoon and Russia’s RAC MiG MiG-35 are part of the starting line-up.
In a first step, the IAF plans to acquire 18 aircraft in fly-away condition. The aircraft will be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) under a technology transfer deal. The MMRCA programme is set up to replace the Air Force’s aging MiG-21 fleet of Russian-built fighter aircraft first introduced in the 1960s. India had floated the tenders for the MMRCA in August 2007 and the exhaustive technical evaluation of the six global manufacturer' bids were completed early this year.
Boeing’s F/A-18 leads the way
On 17 August, 2009 Bangalore saw the initiation of the test runs with two F/A-18s making two sorties of 45 minutes each. The exercise was supervised by military aviation experts from the IAF's aircraft systems and training establishment (ASTE) complex. According to AFP, unnamed industry sources have declared Lockheed Martin and Boeing as frontrunners in this race. However, the race will have more than one lap, which the fighters will have to cope with.
The testing is due to continue for almost a year before New Delhi makes its choice from the six companies, defence ministry officials in New Delhi said. After the Bangalore test runs, all contending aircraft will move to Leh for high altitude trials and, subsequently, to Jaisalmer for summer trials. “We are optimistic that the trials on Indian soil and the conditions of all six aircraft competing for the deal will be completed before the end of April next year,” the Indian IAF officers said in late July.
As defpro.com recently reported, the IAF has set up a three-phased trial schedule which will be carried out by a team of two test pilots for each flight trial. “As per the trial schedule, the first phase involved training of Indian pilots on these competing aircraft in the country of origin. The second phase is the flight trials on Indian soil and airspace. The third phase would be the test of specialist weapons that the manufacturers would provide on the aircraft in the country of their choice,” the IAF officers explained, adding: "The idea is to complete the trials as soon as possible and, hence, we’ve got four pilots trained on these competing aircraft."
Official websites on the six contesters’ fighter aircraft in alphabetical order:
Nicolas von Kospoth
