The IAF’s new contest for fighter aircraft is expected to get underway over the next few months. But there remain a number of significant outstanding problems ahead, that could delay or derail the process.
The most substantial challenge in the formulation of the RFP for 110 fighter aircraft is the incorporation of the industrial cooperation program under Chapter 07 of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), something that has never actually been implemented in any form before.
Even after two decades since the acquisition case, the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) search has seen a system absent from trials and failing trials, being passed as technically compliant and ending up as, apparently, the cheapest. Also problematic is the difficulty its purchase could pose by provoking U.S. sanctions under their CAATSA.
Airbus VP Ashish Saraf explains why they’re offering two helicopters for the same Indian Navy program, how new performance parameters could change the result & the challenges of strategic partnerships.
Boeing is the third international manufacturer to have announced a partnership with Indian companies for the production of fighter aircraft in India.
DRDO Chairman S. Christopher told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence about a requirement of INR 800 crore to develop the LCA Mk2, adding the IAF had committed to 201 fighters.
In a move certain to dial up the tempo in their bid to build F-16 fighters for the Indian Air Force, Lockheed Martin has appointed Dr. Vivek Lall to the position of Vice President, Strategy and Business Development.
StratPost examines the factors that could influence the choice of a Make in India fighter aircraft in the absence of a tender competition.
Japan has set up an agency to manage international defense trade, especially the Indian Navy order for ShinMaywa US-2i amphibious aircraft, after the loss of the Australian submarine order.
‘Modern’ technologies may reasonably be understood to be a much larger set than ‘state of the art’ technologies. Only a test case would determine what would fly, though.
Our pseudonymous analyst Mark is back with his take on the story so far of the IAF’s quest for fighter aircraft. He last contributed a much talked-about two-part analysis of the MMRCA tender in April 2012.
StratPost goes through the revisions in the Defense Procurement Procedure announced by the defense ministry and tells you exactly what’s changed from DPP 2013.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has completed one year in office but defence preparedness and military modernisation continue to require his urgent attention, says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) in an annual report card.
The post-MMRCA narrative unfolding since April is one in which the Modi government has quietly reached out to at least three foreign OEMs to invite interest in building fighter aircraft in India.
The tender to manufacture the C-295 was the first aircraft procurement plan especially intended by the IAF and the defense ministry to be solely partnered in India by private industry.
