$11 BILLION - MEDIUM MULTI-ROLE COMBAT AIRCRAFT (MMRCA) TENDER
lately, Indian Air force had to contend with dwindling numbers of fighters from a peak strentgh of 39.5 Squadrons to just 29 Squadrons. The present aircrafts that IAF has are dominated by outdated aircrafts like Mig-21. In recent history it has been proved that a country's Air Force is the deciding factor in any battle. We have a alarming situation where China is arming Pakistan and is emboldening it to take a confrontational posture with India. If we ever had to face these two countries in battle, then our chance of winning the battle wont be that high.
Understanding the gravity of the situation, the IAF & Defense Ministry projected a requirement for about 126 sophisticated aircraft and floated a tender for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) worth $11 Billion, with serious offset clauses and full Transfer of Techonology. The Indian government is to buy the first 18 aircraft directly from the manufacturer. The remaining fighters will be built under license with a transfer of technology (ToT) by HAL.
Six aircraft were bid for the order
- French Dassault Rafale
- Eurofighter Typhoon
- Russian Mikoyan MiG-35
- American F-16IN
- American F/A-18IN Super Hornet
- Swedish Saab Gripen
Dassault Rafale:
The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engined delta-wing agile multi-role fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. The Rafale has the advantage of being logistically and operationally similar to the Mirage 2000, which the IAF already operates and used with great success during the Kargil War (see Operation Safed Sagar). This would require fewer changes in the existing infrastructure of the IAF, which in turn will reduce cost. Moreover, being 100% French also provided Dassault a distinct edge over its competitors on the issue of technology transfer.
The French government has cleared full technology transfer of the Rafale to India, including that of the RBE2-AA AESA radar which will be integrated into the Rafale by 2010
The Eurofighter:
Typhoon is a twin-engine multi-role canard-delta strike fighter aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of European aerospace manufacturer. Some observers believe that aside from the F-22A Raptor, the Eurofighter is the next-best in-service air superiority aircraft world-wide.
Eurofighter is offering the Tranche-3 Typhoon for the Indian requirement, equipped with the CAESAR AESA radar. EADS has invited India to become a partner of the Eurofighter Typhoon programme if the Typhoon wins the contract, and will be given technological and development participation in future tranches of the Typhoon. In January 2010, EADS offered to include thrust vectoring nozzles (TVNs) with the Typhoon's EJ200 engines for India. Thrust vectoring will improve operational capabilities, and reduce fuel burn by up to 5% and increase thrust while supersonic cruising by 7%.
Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is a twin-engine carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft. The variant being offered to India, is based on the F/A-18E/F model flown by the U.S. Navy and currently being built for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Raytheon's APG-79 AESA radar was offered on the aircraft.
Lockheed Martin F-16IN Super Viper
The F-16IN, which is similar to the F-16 Block 60, will be a 4.5 generation aircraft. Lockheed Martin has stated that it will be the most advanced F-16 variant developed. It will have a Northrop Grumman AN/APG-80 AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar & General Electric F110-132A engine with 143 kN full reheat thrust with FADEC Controls.Disadvantages of the F-16 is that its more prone to pilot errors than the Mirage 2000H, and like F/A-18, it too has numerous restrictions by the United States Government. The biggest disadvantage is that it is currently in service with Pakistan.
Mikoyan MiG-35
The Mikoyan MiG-35 is the production version of the latest MiG-29 and incorporates mature development of the MiG-29M/M2 and MiG-29K/KUB technology, such as glass cockpit and fly-by-wire technology. Since the IAF already has maintenance and upgrade facilities for the MiG-29, this would mean that the fighter could be brought into service with a minimum of expenditure on infrastructure. A major advantage of MiG-35 is that Russia is committed to transfer the plane's technology, including the new advanced Zhuk-AE Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, to India. In the past, Russia has provided customized versions of military equipment such as the Su-30MKI and continued to provide support for equipment during international sanctions. However, Russian product support, especially for the MiG-29 fleet has been inadequate.
Biggest weaknesses were short range, engines that produce telltale smoke (very bad in air combat) and lack of true multi-role capability. Additionally, buying the MiG-35 would mean an almost total dependence on a single supplier for India's entire fighter fleet. Recent Russian action of severely hiking prices of vital Military Equipment in the guise of inflation has caused concern in New Delhi.
Saab Gripen NG
The Saab JAS 39 Gripen is a single engine versatile fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab. The aircraft is in service with the several countries.The Gripen NG has increased fuel capacity, more powerful power plant, higher payload, upgraded avionics and other improvements.
Its drawback includes its short range and its American GE’s F414G engine which will limit its transfer of technology.
Below you can find a technical comparison of the fighters in the fray.
Aircraft: | Dassault Rafale | F-16IN "Super Viper" | ||||
Length: | 15.27 m (50.1 ft) | 15.96 m (52 ft 5 in) | 15.03 m (49 ft 3 in) | 18.31 m (60 ft 1¼ in) | 14.1 m (46 ft 3 in) | 17.3 m (56 ft 9 in) |
10.80 m (35.4 ft) | 10.95 m (35 ft 11 in) | 10.0 m (32 ft 8 in) | 13.62 m (44 ft 8½ in) | 8.4 m (27 ft 7 in) | 12 m (39 ft 4 in) | |
Height: | 5.34 m (17.4 ft) | 5.28 m (17 ft 4 in) | 5.09 m (16 ft 7 in) | 4.88 m (16 ft) | 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) | 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) |
Wing area: | 45.7 m² (492 ft²) | 50.0 m² (538 ft²) | 27.9 m² (300 ft²) | 46.5 m² (500 ft²) | 30.0 m² (323 ft²) | 38.0 m² (409 ft²) |
Empty weight: | 9,500 kg (20,940 lb) | 11,000 kg (24,250 lb) | 7,100 kg (15,650 lb) | 11,000 kg (24,280 lb) | ||
Maximum payload: | 9,500 kg (21,000 lb) | 7,500 kg (16,500 lb) | 7,800 kg (17,200 lb) | 8,050 kg (17,750 lb) | 6,500 kg (15,400 lb) | |
24,500 kg (54,000 lb) | 23,500 kg (51,800 lb) | 21,800 kg (48,000 lb) | 29,000 kg (65,076 lb) | |||
Powerplant: | 2× Klimov RD-33MK | |||||
Thrust: • Dry thrust: | 50 kN each (11,250 lbf) | 60 kN each (13,500 lbf) | 84 kN (19,000 lbf) | 62.3 kN each (14,000 lbf) | 62.3 kN (14,000 lbf) | 53 kN each (11,900 lbf) |
• Afterburner thrust: | 75 kN each (17,000 lbf) | 90 kN each (20,250 lbf) | 144 kN (32,500 lbf) | 98 kN each (22,000 lbf) | 98 kN (22,000 lbf) | 88.3 kN each (19,840 lbf) |
Fuel: • Internal • External | 4,700 kg 7,500 kg | 3,265 kg 5,880 kg | F/A-18E: 6,780 kg, 5 tanks, total 7,381 kg | 4,800 kg | ||
External stations:** | 14 (5 'wet') | 13 (3 'wet') | 11 (3 'wet') | 11 (5 'wet') | 10 (4 'wet') | 9 (3 'wet') |
Mach 2.05 800 KCAS | Mach 1.8 | Mach 2.25 Mach 1.2 | ||||
3,700+ km | 4,220 km | 3,054 km | 2,500 km 4,075 km | 2,000 km 3,000 km with 3 drop tanks | ||
1,800 km | 1,700 km | 722 km | 1300 km with six AAMs + drop tanks, and 30 min on station | 1000 km | ||
17,000 m (56,000 ft) | 19,812 m (65,000 ft) | 18,000 m (60,000 ft) | 15,000 m (50,000 ft) | 15,240 m (56,000 ft) | 17,500 m (57,400 ft) | |
305 m/s (60,000 ft/min) | 315 m/s (62,000 ft/min) | 254 m/s (50,000 ft/min) | 228 m/s (44,882 ft/min) | N/A | 330 m/s (65,000 ft/min) | |
1.13 | 1.18 | 1.1 | 0.93 | 1.18 | 1.1 | |
None | None | None | None | May be fitted with thrust vectoring | ||
Unit cost: | US$86 million | US$48 million | US$38.5 million | |||
Notes: | ** = Wet stations | |||||
SHORTLISTED FIGHTERS In April 2011, the Indian Government issued letters to the European Eurofighter Typhoon consortium and the French Dassault’s Rafale, asking them to extend the validity of their commercial bids. This action of shortlisting two European fighters instead of American or Russian ones is hailed by experts as a decision taken on merit & technical evaluation with no political strings. This decision by the Indian Ministry of Defense is based on through evaluation based on 643 test parameters listed in the Air Staff Qualitative Requirements (ASQRs).
It may be noted that according to industry insiders, Rafale had quoted a price of $85 million per aircraft and Eurofighter $100 million per piece in flyaway condition in the recent Brazilian competition. For the Indian Air Force (IAF), the Rafale and Eurofighter quote is anybody’s guess, but according to the the industry the machines should cost anywhere between $75 million and $80 million per aircraft in flyaway condition.
The IAF will arrive at a final cost for the two aircraft based on various other factors like the lifecycle cost, maintenance cost, transfer of technology and cost of spare parts. Also, 50% of the total cost of the deal has to be invested in the Indian industry under the offsets obligation.
AMERICANS SHOCKED: The Americans have been shocked at the rejection of their aircrafts F-16 & F/A-18 from the competition and are now trying to bend backwards to win the competition by offering the 2nd Best fighter in the world F-35 (Best Fighter is F-22 Raptor) which has Stealth capability. But this offer has been rejected by the Indian Government as the shortlisting has already been done and India is currently producing a much better Stealth Fighter aircraft with Russia under a $250 Billion project and its happy with that.
--
Prashant Uikey
Striving For Protection & Successful Implementation Of Citizen's Rights
No comments:
Post a Comment