Indian Navy hunting for the next generation naval multirole fighter jets for its aircraft carriers. So far only two countries are seen as the front runners, namely France with Rafale and the United States with F-18s. Both the countries are fighting it out for 57 orders from the Indian Navy. As India expanding its blue water navy due to the Chinese interference in the Indian Ocean Region.
Dog Fight between Rafale and F18 for Indian Navy Orders
Seeking to develop further closer ties with India, the United States of America (USA) has offered its F-18 naval fighter jets for the Indian Navy’s requirements of combat jets for its aircraft carriers. mean While the Indian Airforce has placed its best bet on the French-made multiple Rafale fighter jets. Indian Air Force already has placed the stopgap order for 36 Rafale fighters. And looking to procure 114 jets with advanced technology.
Indian Navy Joins IAF:
Indian Navy earlier planned to join the IAF procurement process to get a better deal with mass orders. Meanwhile “The American Government has offered to provide their naval fighter aircraft F-18 for the Indian Navy under Government 2 Government(G2G) deal,” government sources said.
F-18s Offer by the United States to India:
The United States offering the latest Naval variant of their vintage F-18 Block 3 naval multiple fighter jets which can operate from an Indian carrier.
Boeing on their website offered a look into their F-18 Block 3 offerings. It said The F/A-18 Super Hornet Block III offers the Indian Navy a unique and differentiated capability in the form of an advanced, combat-proven, multi-role naval fighter that is fully compatible with the Indian Navy carriers and would boost the thesubsing maritime and defense relationship between the United States and India.
Converting F-18 for Ski-Jump
American aerospace engineers are working hard to make this deal possible. The US Navy crew were assigned to test and prove F-18s Ski jump capabilities. So it can operate from India’s INS Vikramaditya and Under testing INS Vikrant. Both these aircraft use Ski-Jump has launching process. Whereas the US Navy Super Carriers work on catapult systems enabling US Navy to operate heavy war plans from carriers’ decks.
The Issue:
While the testing for Ski Jump takes place in the United States, New problem has emerged with the F-18 Block 3 program. The problem is a major one. It’s the structural issue, with the Conformal Fuel Tanks. Conformal fuel tanks are additional fuel tanks fitted closely to the profile of an aircraft that extend the endurance of the aircraft.
As per our sources with IFE News Network, the Once touted as key upgrades, conformal fuel tanks could be dropped from USN’s F/A-18E/F Block III. Each can carry 3500-gallon fuel. Early testing has found “technical, structural, and sustainment” issues. This was a US Navy report. But as per our understanding, no decision has been made yet.
Uncertainty of F18 deal for Indian Navy:
This means US Navy is not confident with the structural design for their F-18 block 3 with conformal tanks. This could be a huge blow for the Indian Navy Fighter Jet deals. It must be interesting how the Indian side going to respond. The up-gradation of F-18s was first brought up by the former US President Donald Trump. Who thought replacing F-18s with the latest fifth-generation stealth fighter jet F-35, could be expensive and unwarranted.
He also blamed American Aerospace Giant Lockheed Martin for trying to rip off the US with heavy cost tags on the F-35. But with Joe Biden taking over as president, things are back to what it is during President Obama’s times.
Whatever the truth behind it, this could be interesting to see how the Indian Administration will respond.
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