Home Politics IAF to spend $20b on foreign fighter making in India

IAF to spend $20b on foreign fighter making in India

2 min read
Comments Off on IAF to spend $20b on foreign fighter making in India
1
812

 

•By newsroom

NEW DELHI: India is all set to spend $20 billion on a massive defence deal by re-inviting global aviation manufacturers to compete to produce fighter jets in India under the government’s “strategic partnership” policy.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) issued a preliminary global tender or RFI (request for information) on Friday to acquire 110 fighter jets, of which 85% are to be built in India with a domestic strategic partner. The aircraft manufacturers will submit their proposals in the deal that stipulates that 75% of the fighters will be single-seat jets, by July 3.

The process of submission of bids, evaluations and field trials will take some years, but the IAF aims to set up a second fighter manufacturing line in India to supplement the long-delayed production of indigenous Tejas jets.

The IAF has just 31 fighter squadrons (each with 18 jets) although it says it needs 42 to counter what it considers a threat from its neighbours Pakistan and China. The IAF’s old MiG-21s and MiG-27s will be retired by 2022.

The six contenders are the F/A-18 ‘Super Hornet’ and F-16 ‘Super Viper’ (US), Gripen-E (Sweden), MiG-35 (Russia), Eurofighter Typhoon and Rafale.

Load More Related Articles
Load More By NP newsroom
Load More In Politics
Comments are closed.

Check Also

U.S. beat Internationals to secure 10th consecutive Presidents Cup

UNITED STATES: Keegan Bradley secured the Presidents Cup for the United States on Sunday w…