India Launches New Competition to Build Fighter Jets

India Launches Race to Build Fighter Jet: Deal to supply air force rates among world’s most lucrative (excerpt)

India has kick-started a race to supply fighter jets for its air force in what could be among the world’s most lucrative military aerospace contracts, with international defence companies lining up to pitch for as much as $10bn worth of business.

Companies worldwide have received letters in the past few days from the Indian government asking whether they would be willing to partner with an Indian company to produce a fleet of single-engine fighter jets for the Indian air force.

A letter was sent via Indian embassies to both Saab of Sweden and Lockheed Martin of the US, while industry executives say letters were also received by Germany, Italy and Russia. It is unclear, however, whether the latter three were handed the same request, given none of those countries makes modern military fighter aircraft of the required single-engine type.

The move indicates that in its haste to replace its ageing fleet of jets, India is willing to upend its normal tendering process and do a deal more quickly.

Randall Howard, director of the integrated fighter group at Lockheed Martin, said: “There is a sense of urgency from the Indian air force because its need is so great. This would be one of the largest fighter jet orders ever made.”

He added: “We received the letter in the past few days and we have started conversations with the air force to ask what they are looking for and what are their requirements.” (end of excerpt)

Click here for the full story, on the FT website.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: India’s latest initiative to select a new fighter for license production may be pushed by an urgent need to bring its air force up to strength, but given the level of technological know-how of Indian industry it is unlikely to produce any concrete result for many years.
Furthermore, selecting yet another combat aircraft type risks further complicating its already complex supply chain, which already must cope with seven distinct fast jets, which currently includes BAE Systems Jaguar and Hawk; Dassault Mirage and, shortly, Rafale, as well as Russian-supplied MiG-29Ks and Sukhoi Su-30s, and the indigenously-developed HAL Tejas, excluding the soon to be retired MiG-21 and MiG-27s.
Buying a foreign-designed single-seat fighter, as seems to be India’s intention, also undercuts its announced plans to produce and operate large numbers of Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, the intended replacement for the MiGs.
India has been working on this program since 1985, and it has not yet entered full-scale production, so these latest plans to build even more advanced combat aircraft seem over-ambitious, even though they have visibly enthused foreign suppliers.)

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