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.
Part III of this analysis examines the implications of the single most interesting data point to emerge from the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India. This date has never been mentioned in earlier media reports, and what is almost startlingly significant is not only what transpired on this date, but the fact of the date, itself.
Part II of this analysis examines how the defence ministry’s Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) interpreted an inflated cost analysis of the Eurofighter bid and undervalued the cost of the Rafale bid, five times.
Part I of this three-part analysis is a contextual reading of the February 2019 CAG report and outlines how the IAF’s MMRCA contest was fixed to get the Rafale back into the contest after it was rejected, three times, and how the threats to a Rafale win were removed.
Earlier this month, Boeing held the transfer ceremony at its Philadelphia facility where the newly-arrived Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Harsh Shringla accepted the aircraft, which is part of a USD 3 billion order that also includes 22 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters.
The proposed transfer of F-16 wing production from Israel to India is not contingent on an order from the Indian Air Force (IAF) according to Lockheed Martin.
We examine lessons learned from the MMRCA contest and look at seven ways to derisk the process to prevent a repeat of the result in the earlier MMRCA competition.
Angad Singh and Pushan Das help StratPost editor Saurabh Joshi understand how the new IAF fighter contest will be different from the last one and why it will take two general elections before an order is placed.
Updated: MMRCA 2.0 will be a repeat of the MMRCA contest with the same six aircraft: F/A-18 Super Hornet Block III, MiG-35, F-16 Block 70, Gripen E, Eurofighter and Rafale.
The IAF currently operates four types of fighter aircraft of Russian origin and two western fighter models, with a third — the Rafale — expected to be added to the fleet by September 2019.
Boeing is the third international manufacturer to have announced a partnership with Indian companies for the production of fighter aircraft in India.
Boeing and Airbus will compete in a new IAF tender for tanker aircraft being conducted for the 3rd time – this time without a Russian bid. Airbus had won both the earlier tenders that were later withdrawn.
The defence ministry has provided a singular and unconvincing defence of why it did not ask for, or entertain, a competing commercial offer for the Eurofighter Typhoon pitched by Airbus.
A breakdown of the issues that need to be resolved for the two countries to have discussions on a potential Indian fleet of F-35 aircraft, in the concluding part of this analysis.
