Saab has displayed its A3-001 concept for an uncrewed combat aircraft in Sweden. The system is intended to operate alongside crewed aircraft and could be used for electronic warfare, air defence suppression and precision strikes.
Saab has signed a €3.1 billion contract with Colombia for 17 Gripen E/F fighter aircraft including two twin-seat Gripen F fighters to be delivered between 2026 and 2032, following orders from Thailand recently, a Ukrainian letter of intent for hundreds of aircraft and strong prospects coming up in Canada.
Chinese drone manufacturer DJI is facing trouble doing business in the U.S with all kinds of legal hurdles and has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Pentagon, while Raytheon has been fined almost $1 billion and Sweden’s Saab has been subpoenaed for its sale of Gripen fighters to Brazil.
Saurabh Joshi analyses the significance of the agreement to produce GE F414 fighter aircraft engines in India and its far-reaching consequences for India’s military aviation industry, indigenous fighter capability and defence ties with the U.S.
The acquisition of the S-400, differing points of view on the war in Ukraine, eye-watering costs, a domestic 5th gen fighter program and never having operated any U.S. fighter aircraft are some of the reasons why India can’t and shouldn’t consider the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
Also noteworthy will be the Exocet anti-ship missile, with the SM39 submarine variant already delivered for the Indian Navy’s Scorpene submarines.
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
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.
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.
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.
Boeing is the third international manufacturer to have announced a partnership with Indian companies for the production of fighter aircraft in India.
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.
