India Seek New Fighter - Again
 

It’s deja vu all over again. Love the last throwaway sentence.....

India opens contest to supply more than 100 fighter jets

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is seeking to buy around 110 fighter jets, the air force said in a request for information issued on Friday, marking the first step toward a long-delayed deal that could be worth more than $15 billion. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Saab and Dassault Aviation are among the manufacturers expected to compete.

The aircraft must be built largely in India as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s drive to build a domestic industrial base. The air force said in a notice that “85 percent will have to be made in India by a Strategic Partner/Indian Production Agency”.

Lockheed has offered to move its F-16 production line in Fort Worth, Texas, to India and make it the only plant worldwide to produce the F-16 for not only India but also other countries, said Vivek Lall, vice president, strategy and business development at Lockheed Martin. Lockheed has teamed with India’s Tata Advanced Systems to build the planes locally while Sweden’s Saab has entered into a partnership with the Adani Group, a resources conglomerate. The other contenders have not announced their local partners.

The tender will be open for makers of both single engine and twin-engined combat jets, in a widening of the field. The Eurofighter Typhoon and Russian aircraft are also potential contenders under the new requirements. A spokesman for Dassault Aviation which makes the twin-engine Rafale declined to comment.

Earlier, the defense ministry had sought expressions of interest from single-engine manufacturers which effectively restricted the contest to Lockheed’s F-16 and Saab’s Gripen fighter jets. But in February the government asked the air force to open up the competition to twin-engined aircraft, in the latest flip-flop in policy that has delayed the acquisition process for years and left the air force short of hundreds of planes.

India began its search for new planes for the Indian air force in 2003 to replace its Soviet-era MiG fighters.

The request for information is open until July, the air force said. A request for proposal will then be issued followed by bid evaluations and contract negotiations. The process could take years, officials say.

Dead or ALive 1985

So how "cheap" are the latest F16 models?

.......... So, if the F16 line moves to India from Fort Worth, does that mean a branch of the US military accepting a front line aircraft being manufactured outside of the continental US by a country which has previous in working with the Former USSR, even as an attrition replacement?
Also, I don't see how that gels with "the Donald"'s bringing jobs back to America rhetoric. I can't see that laying off large numbers of skilled Texan taxpayers in favour of a relatively small contract for Lockheed being a PR coup.

Is this instead of or as well as the Rafale?

It’s in addition to the 36 Rafale and the current bookmaker’s favourite is Rafale to win.

The last Texas built F-16 flew in November 2017 - GD have been planning a two year break in production to move the line to S Carolina due to lack of sales anyway. Without a major order it's pretty much down to producing spares and attrition frames only. Not bad when you think they've been building them for +45 years.

Moving the line to India would be a great coup for the USA and GD TBH

As for "working with the former USSR" I really dont think the Russians would learn a lot from an Indian F-16.........

Ah, so the previous cancelled Rafale order up for re-negotiation!

It will be out if service before they make up their mind....

I would think it highly likely considering the Hawk deal took over 20 years to come to fruition

I was involved in a bid for a single special purpose aeroplane to India recently, can't say it left me with a deep desire to do it again!

The Indians to my mind, failed at the first hurdle - they simply didn't understand the task in the first place themselves. They had a handful of people running around the world looking at other people's kit, put together a totally unrealistic wishlist of all the best things other countries who had massive competent infrastructure to support it had, and wanted them all to go on a smaller lighter aeroplane than anybody else was using.

And they wanted it fixed price, with a large deposit up front from all bidders, not returnable until the tenders were all settled and awarded.

It was never going to succeed - the British company I was working out pulled out and, whilst it might have been very rewarding to do, I don't blame them at-all.


This will create years of pain for a lot of people!

In the meantime, HAL in Bangalore have a light combat aircraft prototyped and flying, and this apparently isn't in the running? Odd.

G