As the contest to
supply a new fighter aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF) heats up, the MiG-35 has
emerged as a viable candidate. India is supposedly seeking about 220
single-engine fighters to replace 11 squadrons of MiG-21/27s that entered
service in the 1990s.
Rosoboronexport
is believed to have offered a licensed production deal for the twin-engine
MiG-35 that would compensate for the IAF’s reluctance to proceed with
the Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) project.
At the MAKS 2017
airshow in July, Ilya Tarasenko, director general of Russian Aircraft
Corporation MiG, said: “We are actively working with the IAF in order to win the
tender.” Russia has committed to a 40-year maintenance and upgrade contract to
preclude the support issues that have arisen in the past with Russian aircraft
in service with the IAF.
Meanwhile, also at MAKS,
Sergei Chemezov, CEO of
the Rostec State Corporation, told reporters that a decision on the design and
development of the FGFA would
be made in the “nearest future.” He did not provide a timeline for the project,
a version of Russia’s Sukhoi T-50, which has been under discussion between
the two countries for the past decade.
According
to an Indian defense official, “The MiG-35 is 25 percent cheaper [than rival
candidates for the IAF requirement;
has an AESA radar;
has commonality with the fleet; and being in the light to medium category
enables it to land in the same airfields that the [indigenous] Light Combat
Aircraft does. If the FGFA does
not go through, Russia will have to be compensated, and this is the only
contract left at the moment.”
If the
MiG-35 is chosen, it would likely be built at the Nashik facility of Hindustan
Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).
Spare capacity will soon be available there, when work on Su-30MKI upgrades for the IAF is
completed. India had previously indicated that the single-engine fighter should
be built by a non-state owned company that would be selected as partner by the
fighter supplier under the “Make In India” policy. But acting defense minister
Arun Jaitley said last month while inaugurating HAL’s Light Combat Helicopter
facility: “Public-sector work culture and performance have the highest
standards of professionalism,” making it clear that HAL was not ruled out of the
fighter contest. (India’s first woman defense minister, former commerce
minister Nirmala Sitharaman, took over from Jaitley this week and is thought to
be like-minded).
Abhay
Paranjape, director of business development for Lockheed Martin in India, told AIN that
following its agreement with Tata Advanced Systems to produce the F-16 Block 70
in India, his company had already identified 60 companies in India that it will
shortlist to make parts for the fighter. “The U.S. administration is in
full support of moving the F-16 production line to India…this will create jobs
in both countries,” he added. He also said that Lockheed Martin is encouraging
the two governments “to have a conversation” for future cooperation on the F-35
stealth fighter.
Saab
is expected to bid the Gripen E. Transfer of technology remains a thorny issue.
The Swedish company and the Adani Group announced “a collaboration on aerospace
and defense” on September 4. “Saab is willing to transfer state-of-the-art
technology and skills. We will focus on the capability that is critical for
true indigenization including design, system integration, maintenance and
upgrade,” said Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group. The Indian
conglomerate is venturing into the defense arena for the first time with the
Saab agreement. However, Kurt Ove Håkan Buskhe, the president and CEO of the
Saab Group told AIN:
“Most design and integration uses avionics software and onboard computer
systems, and that is something we fully control.”
Source :- AIN online
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