MRCA News & Discussions (V)

Which aircraft do you think has a better chance of winning MMRCA race NOW??

  • Eurofighter Typhoon

    Votes: 29 26.9%
  • Dassault Rafale

    Votes: 52 48.1%
  • Lockheed Martin F-16IN Super Viper

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

    Votes: 17 15.7%
  • Saab Gripen NG

    Votes: 7 6.5%
  • Mikoyan MiG-35

    Votes: 3 2.8%

  • Total voters
    108
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RPK

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U.S. May Sweeten Indian Jet Bid
Could Release More Tech To Woo New Delhi
By DEFENSE NEWS STAFF


http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=5579661


Published: 31 January 2011 Tweet U.S. officials may offer better avionics performance as part of the F-16 and F/A-18 fighters vying for India's $10 billion competition for 126 new combat jets, sources said, capping a week that also saw the Pentagon's acquisition chief open the door to an Indian purchase of the F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft.

The moves come just before the Feb. 9-15 Aero India 2011, South Asia's premier airshow, where the world's leading combat aircraft makers will show off their wares in their bid to win the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contest.

Sources said the modified bids would allow the U.S. jets to offer better radar range and electronic-warfare performance. U.S. contractors are prohibited from promising any more capabilities than what the government allows them to release.

Indian officials, however, realize U.S. systems have greater capabilities than what is being officially offered, and want the bar raised.

In contrast, European MMRCA competitors have pledged to fully share their technologies with Indian industry.

Aside from Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin's F-16IN Super Viper, competitors include Dassault's Rafale, Eurofighter's Typhoon, Mikoyan's MiG-35 and Saab's JAS-39 Gripen. The planes will be at Bangalore, along with sizeable delegations of each of the competing nations.

As Washington mulls technology transfer to India, Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter indicated a willingness to allow India at some point to acquire the F-35, a stealthy jet long reserved for America's closest allies.

"There is nothing on our side, no principle which bars that on our side, Indian participation in the Joint Strike Fighter," Carter told an audience Jan. 26 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

The F-35 is not a contender for the MMRCA competition, which was launched in 2004, but might vie for some future contract.

But Indian officials have long expressed interest in the short takeoff and vertical landing variant of JSF for their aircraft carriers, although U.S. officials have historically been publicly noncommittal about India's role on the program given their nascent arms relationship

"Right now, they're focused on these aircraft which are top-of-the-line fourth-gen fighters," Carter said.

Together, the F-35 and MMRCA developments show how U.S. officials are flexing as they - and others around the world - pursue India's growing more than $100 billion defense market.

Last year, India's long-time strategic partner Russia nailed down two major aerospace deals, agreeing to co-develop and buy a new airlifter and a stealthy fighter.

But it's Washington that has been moving most dramatically. Starting in the George W. Bush administration, Washington has wooed India as a strategic partner, sealing a major nuclear cooperation deal in 2008, and selling an array of weapons that includes missiles, the C-17 and C-130 airlifters and the P-8 maritime patrol jet.

When U.S. President Barack Obama visited India in November, he called the country a world power and pledged U.S. support to help India win a seat on the United Nations Security Council.

And just last week, the U.S. lifted a 12-year-old ban on the export of dual-use technology to two Indian design labs.

Although Carter said Washington has "been very forthcoming and forward-leaning with respect to technology transfer and industrial participation," U.S. officials continue to think through how to balance appropriate controls against greater openness.

"What will be crucial for the Indians is the level of technology transfer the U.S. is prepared to offer on Joint Strike Fighter, particularly given Delhi recently got into bed with the Russians to build a fifth-generation fighter of their own," said one defense industry executive in London.

The executive noted that India is asking bidders for 50 percent offsets, high levels of technology transfer and local assembly in the competition for the MMRCA program.

"It will be interesting to see how the U.S. would manage those kind of expectations with the F-35," he said.

The centrality of technology transfer was underscored by a U.S. diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks. Written last February, it described a conversation between Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

"In order to kick the relationship into a different gear," the U.S. needed "to be seen to be sharing technology," the cable quoted Menon as saying.

Ultimately, India wants to help create advanced arms, not merely buy them, said Brigadier Bhupesh Kumar Jain, the Indian defense attache to the United States.

India is changing its procurement process - among other things, allowing more flexibility in offset deals - so that it can buy from more countries, Jain said Jan. 24 at the ComDef West conference in San Diego.

"It is less interested in a buyer-seller relationship and instead wants joint development. That's where it's moving," he said.

Sharing Technology

The news about the F-35 arrives as the U.S. Commerce Department formally lifts its export ban on dual-use items to India's Defence Research and Development Organization and the Indian Space Research Organization. Washington levied the sanctions as part of its response to India's 1998 nuclear tests.

Indian officials hailed the Jan. 26 move, which implements an agreement forged during Obama's November visit to New Delhi. A senior Indian Ministry of Defence official said ending the ban would pave the way for the joint development of advanced air defense systems.

But Indian analysts were dubious.

"While lifting restrictions now may result in a template for future collaborative research-and-development projects, it is unlikely many such joint ventures will happen any time soon," said Bharat Karnad, a professor of national security studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. "Besides, these projects, if and when they are realized, will not be cutting-edge stuff because of residual mutual distrust."

Carter said Defense Secretary Robert Gates is committed to reforming export controls to help build international partnerships.

"That also will be an important factor in U.S.-India relationships," he said Jan. 26.

Rand Corp. analyst Benjamin Lambeth said the United States could work out ways to share at least some F-35 technology, citing accords reached to facilitate arms sales to Singapore and Israel.

"It is imperative for the U.S. government to apply all the creative imagination it can to find some mutually satisfactory way of squaring the circle so that India can get what it needs," Lambeth said.

Naval Interest?

In a follow-up e-mail to Carter's comments, Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin stressed that the idea of Indian F-35s remains simply that - an idea.

"If, at some point down the road, India were interested in purchasing JSF from us, then we would engage the Indians in an open, transparent manner at that time. But this would obviously be something that the Indian government would have to decide it wanted or needed," Irwin wrote.

Sources said India will eventually need to replace its Harrier jump jets that fly from aircraft carriers.

Among the MMRCA contenders, the Rafale and F-18 already operate from carrier decks, while Saab has touted a navalized version of its Gripen, but using them would require future Indian ships to be equipped with catapults and arresting gear.

India has also acquired Russian MiG-29Ks to meet their naval requirements.

Indian officials were initially noncommittal in reaction to Carter's statement.

"It is for the Indian Air Force to choose if they wish to have F-35," a senior Indian defense ministry official said.

An Indian Air Force source added the service "cannot make a judgment unless F-35 is a part of Indo-U.S. air exercises where Indian fighter pilots can have firsthand flight operations experiences. Therefore, the IAF cannot make any judgment now."

MMRCA and Beyond

As for the MMRCA competition, Carter touted the F-16IN and F/A-18E/F as the most technologically advanced of the rivals, as well as the cheapest to operate.

He also made a pitch on diplomatic grounds, saying the purchase of a U.S. plane "would give additional momentum to the relationship" between India and the United States.

But he said that India's MMRCA choice would likely come down to technology transfer and industrial participation.

The London defense industry executive said the front-runners appear to be Typhoon, Rafale and the F-18.

"At the end of the day, it will be a political decision about who wins, but if F-18 is not emerging as the favored solution, then maybe the U.S. would like to see the program move to the right with the F-35 as the bait," he said.

Russian officials declined to comment, but a source in the state-owned United Aircraft Corporation said manufacturers do not feel threatened by the U.S. advances to India because Russia has nothing to offer in the arms market segments where the States are active. This includes light fifth-generation fighters, like F-35.

"Also, we had signed the agreement with the Indians last year to work on the T-50 heavy fifth-generation fighters, in which New Delhi will procure up to 300 aircraft," the official said. "This contract will keep us loaded with work for another 20 to 30 years."

Analyst Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment, Washington, D.C., said India would eventually need an advanced air-superiority fighter to replace the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, a role that neither MMRCA nor the F-35 could fill. He said the emergence of the Chinese Chengdu J-20 jet may lead India to accelerate its plans to buy or develop a fifth-generation fighter.

Rand's Lambeth said India has already committed to the Sukhoi Perspektivny Aviatsionny Kompleks- Frontovoy Aviatsii (PAK-FA) stealth fighter, which flew early last year.

But he said that if the Russian aircraft stumbles, there may be an opportunity for the F-35.

"It would behoove the U.S. government to let it be known that the aircraft would be available, especially if the PAK-FA encounters developmental trouble," he said.

Tellis urged India to move ahead with its MMRCA program, then quickly shift its attention to replacing its Mirage 2000 and MiG-21, the middle- and low-end air-superiority fighters, with fifth-generation aircraft.

"Because of the transitions that are taking place in air warfare today, the steady shift toward stealth airplanes, this is not time for the Indian state to be pouring enormous amounts of money into buying expensive fourth-generation aircraft," Tellis said. "Instead, what the Indian state ought to be buying is the cheapest, effective fourth-generation aircraft it can buy to populate the middle while it actually starts aggressively planning for the transition toward stealth airframes."

Nabi Abdullaev, Kate Brannen, Andrew Chuter, Dave Majumdar, Vago Muradian and Vivek Raghuvanshi contributed to this report.
 

nrj

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Gain depends on US licence policy, says Saraswat

BANGALORE (PTI): The US action in removing space and defence-related Indian entities from the export control list is "good", but much would depend on its licensing policy as many items required by these organisations were for dual-use, a top defence official has said.

"...even though we have been removed from the entity list it only has taken (us) from the denied list to the enabled list... but it does not take away from the government rule or government law as far as dual use is concerned," Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, Dr V K Saraswat said Friday.

The impact of the removal would be clear when those laws would be stipulated, he said, adding, "We cannot say whether it will help us or it will maintain the same situation."

The US has removed nine Indian space and defence related companies including those from ISRO and DRDO from its export control 'Entity List' in an attempt to expand high technology trade and strategic cooperation with India.

Saraswat said the purpose of the control regime was basically to deny the technology to the country's programmes and projects which were on the anvil at that point of time.

"But as a country we gained, because we accelerated our programme of developing those items and products that had been denied to us," he said.

On the impact of the removal of these organisations from the entity list, he said the entities like ISRO and DRDO required dual use items – from military to peaceful use to non-conventional use.

"So much depends on how the dual use technology licensing will be done by the US for which the US law today is very clear that anything that is of dual use has to get licence," he said.

It was the market forces in the US and Europe that had driven the removal of the control regime as otherwise countries not observing these regimes would benefit and the US economy would not, he said.

"Hence the removal is driven by economy, by market force.

No ethics is involved," he said.


On role of private industry in the defence sector, Saraswat said participation of private industry, small scale industries and large firms "is very large".

"DRDO, ISRO and Atomic Energy have been responsible in the steep rise in capabilities of the private industry," he said.

More than 1,500 industries are participating in the development. Many started as component manufacturers and then graduated to sub-system manufacturer.

"But what we are looking forward to now is they should graduate to lead integrators so that we have a large number of private industries available for taking on a multiple of projects which are on anvil and reduce load on public sector in a large way," he said.

"If we want a large number of Akash (missiles) to be produced, it is essential we have a production line of Akash residing in one of the lead integrators agencies which can do this.

"Expectation of DRDO is very high from the private industry and we would encourage as much as we can by way of technology transfer, by way of mutual transfer of scientists and supporting infrastructure development in these private industry for turning them into lead integrators as well as designers," he said.

To a question on exports of Akash and Nag missiles, Saraswat said, "We are at the moment taking care of our own needs. Akash has just entered into production. We have a major requirement to be met to meet our own Army and Air Force's requirement. So, our first priority is to meet that.

"We will look at exports at a later stage, but yes, there are requests coming in and as a government we are taking a very calibrated view on the fact of internal production and for external usage."

On Agni missiles, he said, "Agni series of missiles are under development and many versions are already inducted in the armed forces, particularly the strategic forces. So we have a strong programme wherein many versions of Agni will be tested but among the new, this year, you will witness the launch of Agni V, which is the first launch of the particular missile.

"You will also witness many tests on the already inducted missile systems as part of the training programme for the strategic forces.

"So you will see many missiles taking off from February- March till December. Among them are ballistic missile interceptors, Agni interceptors that will be undergoing a series of tests," he said.

Brahmand
 

Rahul92

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The best choice would be taking any European union plane avoiding Russian's & American's this will lessen pressure on India
 

black eagle

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'No secrets compromised by misplacement of file'
1 Feb, 2011

NEW DELHI: Defence minister A K Antony on Monday said "nothing sensitive was compromised'' by the mishandling of a "secret'' file connected to the $10.4 billion project to acquire 126 new fighters. Consequently, the procurement process for the 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) will now go ahead with full steam.

"We have received the MoD report. All the agencies, including IAF, have reported nothing was compromised. So, hereafter the MMRCA acquisition process will again start,'' said Antony.

The long-drawn acquisition process, which has already seen extensive negotiations and IAF submitting its technical evaluation report after conducting gruelling field trials of the six foreign fighters in contention over the last two years, had come under a cloud after the secret file went missing and was then found by a roadside last month.

The file, mishandled by two IAS officers of MoD, dealt with offsets proposals submitted by the six global aviation majors. The MMRCA contract specifies an obligation of 50% offsets, under which the foreign aviation major who is finally selected will be required to plough half of the contract forex value back into India.

Antony, on his part, had asked IAF, directorate general (acquisitions) and the department of defence production to find out if the missing file episode had in any way "vitiated'' the procurement process.

Asked about the project's current status, Antony said, "It will take some time. Who will get the deal, I can't say now. The process has started again after the inquiry report was submitted and it will take a few more months.''

The fighters in contention are the American F/A-18 `Super Hornet' (Boeing) and F-16 `Falcon' (Lockheed Martin), Russian MiG-35 (RAC MiG), Swedish Gripen (Saab), French Rafale (Dassault) and Eurofighter Typhoon (consortium of British, German, Spanish and Italian companies).

http://m.timesofindia.com/india/No-...-misplacement-of-file/articleshow/7398729.cms
 

sukhoi30mki

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U.S. MMRCA fighters "formidable best buys" for India

As the competition for obtaining a $10 billion contract to sell India 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) reaches its final stages, an influential think-tank in Washington has pressed the case for India selecting U.S.-made fighters.

This week a report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace argued that although European aircraft are "technically superb," their U.S. competitors could be considered "formidable best buys," so long as Washington offered New Delhi generous terms on the transfer of technology that assured India access to fifth-generation fighters and provided "strong support for India's strategic ambitions."

While eight countries and six companies are in the race to win the lucrative contract, India has so far not indicated any strong preferences between the competitors and some experts have noted that it may decide to carve the contract up between several vendors, partly out of political considerations.

However in the CEIP report "Dogfight! India's MMRCA Decision," its author Ashley Tellis argued that this may be a less than optimal outcome because "While Indian leaders may be tempted to split the purchase among vendors"¦ doing so would needlessly saddle the Indian Air Force with multiple airframes in return for meagre political gains."

Mr. Tellis further underscored the significance of the ongoing tender process as it would help fill the "growing and dangerous hole in the IAF's capabilities," that the IAF's "all-time low of 29 squadrons" represents.

In his report he argued that although this situation had arisen due to delays in defence procurement and accidents and retirements relating to older fighter aircraft, "India's neighbours are aggressively modernising their own air forces," and hence the MMRCA purchase decision was an imperative to reach the currently authorised force levels of 39.5 squadrons before 2017.

Mr. Tellis' report concedes that political considerations would however be key in the selection process and "Indian policymakers will seek to minimise the country's vulnerability to supply cut-offs in wartime, improve its larger military capacity through a substantial technology infusion, and forge new transformative geopolitical partnerships that promise to accelerate the growth of Indian power globally."
 

Parthy

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sukhoi30mki, We have a separate thread for MMRCA. Mods, Please do the necessary.
 

JayATL

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dont be a jayatl...:D i continue to mess up too- these forums can be overwhelming , with what 150 diff forums :p
 

vishal_lionheart

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Hii Guys,

I just want to say Kunal bhai is right?
Rafale is best buy for MMRCA as cost wise as well as technology wise. Previously, I was favored for Gripen but I have seen lot of disadvantages in it.
For below points
01.It has RCS OF 2sqm , which is second lowest among mmrca fighters after Typhoon which has RCS less than 1 , Gripen too has RCS of 1 Sqm but it is 50% smaller than Rafale and carries far less Payload and Fuel

02.Payload of 9000 Kg and 14 Hardpoints which is Highest among mmrca competition

03.Range of 4000 Km which also highest among mmrca fighters

04.Best Electronic Warfare suite ie SPECTRA on offer , which is better than anything which the competitor can throw

05.Only non american aircraft to field AESA radar in 2011

06.Not as Manuverable as Typhoon and Mig35 but still pretty good

07.French are offering all the weapons at there disposal , They are also willing to offer 120 Scalp / Storm Shadow Cruise Missiles as part of Weapons Package , which the Typhoon is also Doing

08.Overall Second best A2G fighter in the competition to F/A18 , but it comes with higher TOT , no strings attached also it is better than F/A18 in A2A role

09. Topspeed is only 1.8 Mach which is slow compared to Mig35 which offers 2.35 Mach , however it has a cruise speed of 0.92 Mach which is quite good

10. French are the only ones who have formally confirmed there aircraft to be ready for Nuke delivery , others except Russia will oppose using there fighter for delivering Strategic weapons

11. While suppression of enemy air defence will mainly be carried out by Su30MKI , but Rafale can be used to put enemy airfields out of commission through Scalp cruise missiles

reference from Archie...
 

vishal_lionheart

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There Rafale is good coz it is good as EF (may be 20% difference in capacity) BUT France is not going for F-35, AMCA is powered by France co-Kaveri engine. etc. etc.

There is a huge chance that IAF go for Rafale and AMCA will be developed by India and France as france is not committed to F-35, afterall they need a 5th gen fighter. arent they? they hardly go for PAK FA, and no Chinese one. The only option left with co partner with INDIAN AMCA.
 

vishal_lionheart

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The core techs of euro-fighter and rafale fighter are developed alone, which means they can offer up to 100% ToT of them if they want, but which is unlikely. The advantage of Rafale here is, that India has only to negotiate about it with 1 country and their companies, while the EF was developed by a consortium of different companies from different countries. That means all countries have to agree on ToT according to their rules and laws, which makes it more difficult.
This problem is obvious also in other decisions about EF, like the upgrads, because either one country pays alone for specific upgrades like UK did with integrating litening pod, or some A2G weapons, or all countries have to agree on core upgrades like the T3 including AESA radar.
Rafale on the other hand needs only permission and funding of French gov and can be upgraded easily and that's why it offer a higher tech, or maturity level at the moment.

Again difficult to say, because there are only a few infos available on this. The all French spares and techs makes them costlier, but even from EF customers like Germany, or Austria there are always reports about very high maintenance and per hour cost.
They should be higher then the US fighters, as well as Gripen mainly because of one engine, but lower then Mig 35s.

The best radar imo will be the Captor - E, but it is also the radar that needs the most time for development and as it seems will not be ready in time.
Rafales SPECTRA EWS on the other hand is really high class, not only in defensive, but also in offensive roles. The only EWS that has shown passive launch of missile capabilities yet!

The question is how much ToT we would get of these techs, Rafale is often offered with full ToT of the radar + source codes, but I would prefer SPECTRA ToT, to use it later on 5. gen fighters like FGFA.
The US fighters will offer obviously high techs in radar and EWS too, but will not offer critical ToT and often tend to downgrade export systems.

Another way to get radar ToT is the AESA radar co-development for Tejas MK2 and most MMRCA competitiors are participating here as well, with the MMRCA radars as the base.

We get ToT of the French M88 engine now as well.
 

vishal_lionheart

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This has been the case with other acquisitions also. We have received one-gen older or slightly degraded performance items on defense purchases in the past. Recall when we received Mig-29 they were one block (if one might call it that) older. Some of the weaponry available to us also was older. Do we have access skhval from the Russians? How about the Sea Dragon suite for the IL-38?

I bring up the varied examples about the Russian weaponry and defense items because we supposedly have "unfettered and complete access" according to many here.

What about the Mirage purchases, did we get top of the line items on it?

This is the nature of the beast. Yes, we will attempt to always get the best and least diluted.

Using the term "neutered" means dysfunctional. Is it going to be reduced functionality -- possibly. But that is going to be true for all. Those who claim the Euro will give us the whole-hog are living in dreamland. Perception does not equal claim, it is just that perception.

We would be foolish to trust any of the vendors based on perception rather than evidence. Evidence from past suggests that no vendor has provided us top-of-line goodies without diluting the prized jewels to some degree.

1998 onwards at least, to my knowledge it has not happened that we have been under sanctions regime from US and not from UK. US sanctions = UK sanctions. So all arguments about EF being more sanctions proof is dubious and without evidence.

Also, BAE is subject to following up on US sanctions. Thereby, if you would like to go with source of components/systems and the sanctions vulnerability, then it is identical for:

EF = SH = F-16 = Gripen

From sanctions regime pov, only two stand distinctly apart:
Rafale and Mig-35

reference Avid
 

sandeepdg

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"Because of the transitions that are taking place in air warfare today, the steady shift toward stealth airplanes, this is not time for the Indian state to be pouring enormous amounts of money into buying expensive fourth-generation aircraft," Tellis said. "Instead, what the Indian state ought to be buying is the cheapest, effective fourth-generation aircraft it can buy to populate the middle while it actually starts aggressively planning for the transition toward stealth airframes."


That's a very good point mentioned by the authors of the report, I also have similar views to some extent. But that would mean we go in for a reliable and proven platforms like the F-16s and the Super Hornets, they do have the edge in being the only combat tested and proven platforms among the other contenders., also they will be cheaper than the other aircrafts especially, the Rafale and EF-2000. But then again my favorites remain the Rafale and the EF-2000, since they are more sophisticated and if the IAF is spending so much then they deserve to get something that is the best, and can remain a potent platform for the next 20-30 years.
 

Yatharth Singh

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Air Force MMRCA Competition Contenders to Turn Out at Aero India 2011

All six fighter jet contenders for the USD 11 billion Air Force Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) deal will showcase full flight displays at Aero India 2011 scheduled to be held between February 9th and 13th at Air Force Station Yelahanka, Bangaluru (Bangalore).

The six contenders -- Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin F-16, MiG-35, Dassault Rafale, EADS Eurofighter Typhoon and SAAB Grippen -- will each bring two to three aircraft along with elaborate teams and flight simulators for display.

India is expected to make its choice around July 2011 and will ink the USD11 billion deal. The contenders for the MMRCA contract for 126 aircraft will be making a final attempt to impress the Indian Air Force and the Indian public at the upcoming Aero India 2011.

http://www.india-defence.com/reports-4975
 
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Blackwater

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Pls select something. We are getting bored with speculation now
 

neo29

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Boeing to unveil stealthier F/A-18 aircraft

A mocked up version of Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet will be among the many metal birds to debut at the upcoming Aero India 2011.Boeing, which is one of the contenders for the $10 billion medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contract, will unveil a stealthier version of the F/A-18 at the air show to be held at the Air Force Station Yelahanka between February 9 and 13.

Boeing's vice president and country head for defence, space and security, Vivek Lal, said that one of the two F/A-18s which will be performing at the bi-annual show will be configured with conformal fuel tanks, enhanced performance engines, spherical missile laser warning, enclosed weapons pad, next generation cockpit and internal infrared search and tracking system.

The mocked up aircraft, which will be unveiled at the Aero India will be the first F/A-18 to be developed as part of the 'International Super Hornet Roadmap' programme which was announced by the US-based aerospace company at last year's Farnborough Air Show in the UK.

Labelled as the next evolution of Block II Super Hornet, the aircraft is said to have features "which increase survivability, situational awareness, and performance for customers".

Lal said that if India inked the 126 MMRCA deal with Boeing, it would also have the option of shaping its technology in future. "We are putting up a platform which will be combat worthy for the next 30 to 40 years," said Lal.

http://idrw.org/?p=2613
 

Anshu Attri

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IAF may get 'Star Wars' helmet from EADS


http://www.zeenews.com/news684965.html

New Delhi: A hi-tech helmet, reminiscent of movies like "Star Wars" and "Firefox" as it helps fighter pilots operate aircraft through a seemingly fictional vision-and-voice command, has been offered to India by European consortium EADS.



The helmet also enables pilots to view enemy planes by just turning their heads and picking targets for the aircraft to shoot down. It has been offered under the $10.4 billion combat plane tender.

"Designed and developed by British aerospace major BAE Systems, the helmet is part of optional purchases India could make if it chooses to go with the Eurofighter Typhoon plane in the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) tender," an official of Cassidian, EADS' defence and security arm, said here Friday.

"We have given this option to the Indian Air Force (IAF) if it decides in favour of our aircraft," the official said.

The helmet-mounted symbology system, released last July by BAE, is getting ready for use by Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots flying the Eurofighter Typhoon this year. It may soon be worn by Spanish, German and Italian fighter pilots flying the Eurofighter Typhoon.

BAE Systems had in its press release a month ago called the helmet "something out of Star Wars", a reference to its capabilities that seem straight out of some sci-fi movie. The company said the helmet let the pilot see through the body of the aircraft.

"Using the new helmet system, the pilot can now look at multiple targets, lock-on to them, and then, by voice-command, prioritise them. It's a lightning-fast system to let the pilot look, lock-on, and fire," the BAE Systems' release said.

A similar system was also showcased in the 1982 sci-fi action flick "Firefox", which starred Clint Eastwood in the lead, in which the Americans send a pilot on a mission to steal a Russian technology by which a fictional MiG-31 fighter jet can be controlled through a neuralink.

The helmet, with a number of sensors linked to the aircraft's computer-enabled systems, helps the pilot to view or sense enemy aircraft beyond visual range by moving his head in the direction of the target even as he flies away from its path. The out of sight enemy targets are picked up by the aircraft's radars.

This capability ensures that the aircraft knows exactly where and what the pilot is looking at and will zero-in on multiple targets to fire its weapons based on priority listed by him, which in turn is based on speed, heading, height and positions of enemy aircraft or missiles as displayed on the helmet's visor.

IANS
 
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