A quiet, hybrid process is underway to buy a reduced number of new fighters for the Indian Navy’s aircraft carriers. But remarkably, some of the fighters being considered can’t operate from aircraft carriers.
The concept is a pilotless jet aircraft with almost the size and range of a conventional fighter that can fly autonomously and deploy a variety of sensors carried in a swappable, modular nose.
Boeing confirmed last week that it would offer Conformal Fuel Tanks (CFTs) on the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter to international customers even though the U.S. Navy has declined the option for their order of the aircraft.
This is the third aircraft to be delivered under an option contract for four additional aircraft that the Ministry of Defence awarded in 2016 in addition to the eight aircraft already in service.
The Indian Navy has taken delivery of it’s tenth P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft. It is the second aircraft to be delivered under an option contract for four additional aircraft placed in 2016.
Just a few hours after the first flight of the F-15EX, U.S. aviation giant Boeing will be participating in the biennial Aero India 2021 airshow to be held in Bengaluru, pitching the fighter to the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is on a visit to Ladakh a day after India’s foreign ministry categorically said no territory had been ceded in the region. The fire onboard the U.S. Navy’s amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard at San Diego Naval Base has finally been put out, Japan has inducted it’s first Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and Saudi Arabia has announced a new defence exhibition.
China calls US rejection of its claims in the South China Sea completely unjustified, as the United Kingdom makes plans to base an aircraft carrier in the Far East, Boeing has been awarded a USD 1.2 B contract for the first eight F-15EX fighters, the US Navy is still dealing with a fire onboard a forty thousand ton aircraft carrier, the Delhi High Court has rejected a serving Indian Army officer’s plea to allow him to keep his Facebook account and the British government has finally settled the issue and banned equipment supplied by China’s Huawei from it’s 5G networks.
Boeing announced on Friday that it had completed delivery of 22 AH-64E Apache and 15 CH-47F(I) Chinook helicopters to India. The order worth USD 2.1 billion was placed in September 2015.
India has decided to invite Australia to the international naval exercise Malabar
Nepal has banned all private Indian television news channels
Boeing completes delivery of 22 Apache and 15 Chinook helicopters to India
U.S. clears a USD 23 billion sale of F-35 fighter aircraft to Japan
Indian Army orders all personnel to delete their Facebook accounts, Boeing completes delivery of the last five of 22 Apache attack helicopters to the Indian Air Force, Saab begins production of the Gripen in Brazil and the Indian Navy completes Operation Samudra Setu
India’s Supreme Court gives the army a month to offer women officers permanent commissions, Taiwan says the Dalai Lama is welcome to visit the island, Social media giants suspend cooperation with authorities in Hong Kong and the US clears arms sales worth USD 7.5 billion.
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced approvals for 08 V-22 tiltrotor aircraft to Indonesia, 03 E-2Ds Advanced Hawkeye aircraft to France, 06 UG-60M Black Hawk helicopters to Lithuania and 27 Stryker ICVs to Argentina as part of five separate sales amounting to USD 7.48 billion.
No word from India-China corps commanders meet
China passes an authoritarian security law for Hong Kong
Airbus to cut 15,000 jobs
Boeing suffers a 97 aircraft order cancellation
Rude morale patch gets US Navy aviators a scolding
Boris’s ride is back from the body shop
The F-15EX is neither a ‘navy fighter’ nor a renamed F-16 and the IAF is curious about it. That’s why the Rafale might finally have a formidable challenger, if India can get past the fact that it’s American.
