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Make In India - Fighter Jet musings - News, Developments, Updates - F16,F18, Gripen, Any other

I agree with u sir .

Not need for any 4 the gen fighter except we got very low price list like 90 (5squadron) f16 or gripen or mig35 with in 5 billions.

Other wise we should dewlap our own tejas .

And use our resorces on faith sixth gen tech +stealth ucav .
 
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This can only be a dangling candy for some.
 
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Lockheed Martin first to respond to invitation to build single-engine fighter in India

Saab to signal acceptance by month-end; Boeing is still undecided

By Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 19th Oct 16


On Monday, US defence giant Lockheed Martin became the first international vendor to respond to an Indian Air Force (IAF) letter, soliciting interest in building a single-engine, medium fighter aircraft in India, with full transfer of technology.

“We sent our acceptance [to the IAF] earlier this week”, Lockheed Martin’s Randy Howard, who markets the F-16 worldwide, told Business Standard.

Meanwhile, Swedish defence corporation, Saab, which was sent a similar invitation, is learnt to be finalising its acceptance. “We will definitely say ‘yes’; most likely by the end of this month”, says a Saab official.

As Business Standard reported (October 8, “IAF kicks off contest to make single-engine fighters in India”) the IAF sent out letters last week to top global aerospace vendors, inviting them to build a single-engine fighter in India.

Defence ministry sources confirm The Boeing Company has also been approached. Unlike Lockheed Martin and Saab, which are actively marketing single-engine fighters --- the F-16 Block 70 and the Gripen E respectively --- Boeing has no single-engine fighter to offer. Instead, it has been offering its twin-engine F/A-18 E/F.

Nor does Eurofighter, the European consortium that builds the twin-engine Typhoon, whose member firms also reportedly received the IAF inquiry.

The contours of the “single-engine fighter” contest are therefore emerging --- Lockheed Martin and Saab seem poised to be the only contenders. As this newspaper reported (August 16, “Gripen, F-16, compete in MMRCA re-run”), both companies had earlier submitted what IAF boss, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, described as “unsolicited offers” for building single-engine fighters in India.

Now, with Lockheed Martin having responded positively to the IAF’s inquiry, Saab’s acceptance, when received, will formally kick off a multi-vendor acquisition process.

The F-16 is amongst the older fighters still in frontline service, but Lockheed Martin describes to Business Standard an attractive offer that would make India the F-16 global hub, galvanizing aerospace component fabrication in the country.

The offer involves transferring the world’s only F-16 production line from Forth Worth, Texas, to India. Thereafter, every F-16 built, and a large share of the spare parts and sub-systems for every F-16 flying across the globe would come from India.


Our offer is not for just building a hundred F-16s in India; or even another hundred F-16s for the export market. The real value would come from the tens of thousands of spare parts, components, sub-systems and systems that would sustain the 3,200-plus F-16s still flying in the US, and in 24 other countries”, says Howard.

Intriguingly, that could mean spares and expendables for Pakistan’s F-16 fleet would be sourced largely from India. Lockheed Martin points out that bringing the production line to India would be “a strategic opportunity”.

In truth, India would have little control over the F-16 components it builds for the global F-16 fleet, including Pakistan’s. Governed by a “global F-16 sustainment programme”, the components would go into a chain of US-controlled warehouses across the globe, from where user air forces would draw their requirements.

In discussions with Lockheed Martin officials, it is evident that they are concerned by the negativity in India caused by Pakistan’s long association with the F-16. Yet the company is banking on an attractive business case to tamp down Indian reservations.

For Lockheed Martin, shifting the F-16 line to India would be a double benefit. With the F-16 ending its prodigious production run (of 4,588 F-16s ordered over the years, just 15 remain to be delivered), Lockheed Martin now wants to build the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at Forth Worth.

Yet, an F-16 line is essential, since the US Air Force (USAF) plans to operate its late-model F-16s (Block 40 and Block 50 versions) for another 30 years, till 2045. Transferring the production line to India would assure Washington that its F-16s would be reliably sustained.

Howard argues that F-16 production is not yet closed. Bahrain and other West Asian countries are negotiating purchases and there are potential buyers in former Soviet countries in NATO, Indonesia and Columbia. He holds out the possibility of building these orders in India.

It remains unclear how much weightage cost would have in selecting a light fighter for the IAF. Lockheed Martin is confident of offering the cheapest fighter in its class, having more than amortised its production line while building over 4,500 fighters.

“Transferring the line to India will make the F-16 even cheaper. And that will bring in even more export orders”, predicts Howard, optimistically.

There is little clarity, however, on whether Washington or New Delhi would have the casting vote on foreign sales of F-16s built in India. It seems likely that both governments would have to concur on third-party, export sales.

Lockheed Martin strongly rejects the notion that the F-16, first built in the 1970s, is obsolescent. Howard points to the Block 70’s battle-proven Northrop Grumman APG-83 airborne electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, a key fighter combat system. That leverages technologies developed for the F-35’s fifth-generation AESA radar.

“Nothing in the world compares with the experience in AESA radars that Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman bring to the table”, argues Howard.

To be sure, the F-16 Block 70 is a versatile combat platform. It flies faster, climbs quicker and carries more armament than most fighters in its class. The “conformal fuel tanks” in late-version F-16s allow long-range operations. With two additional 370-gallon drop tanks and predominantly air-to-air armament, the F-16 has a combat radius of 1,500 kilometres --- comparable to the much bigger Rafale.

With the heavier air-to-ground weaponry that the F-16 carries for strike missions, the radius of action is still an impressive 700 kilometres.


Alongside an aggressive marketing pitch to the IAF, Lockheed Martin is also moving ahead strongly with developing vendors in India, and a supply chain that would feed into an Indian F-16 line. On November 7 and 8, a vendors’ conference is planned in Bengaluru.


Tomorrow, Part II: Sweden’s Saab presents powerful technology transfer incentives with Gripen E
 
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Saab links Gripen bid with Tejas to counter F-16 production numbers



The contest to supply the Indian Air Force (IAF) a single-engine, medium fighter is currently playing out as a two-horse race. US giant, Lockheed Martin, is the Goliath looking to slay the David that is Swedish firm, Saab.
Lockheed Martin, which has offered to shift its F-16production line to India, is the world’s biggest defence firm, with $46.1 billion in sales last year and an order backlog of almost $100 billion. Saab, which has offered its latest fighter, the Gripen E, appears a relative minnow, with $3 billion in sales last year, and an order book of $12.9 billion.
Yet, Saab is an extraordinarily accomplished minnow. Visitors to the Swedish Air Force Museum near Saab’s aerospace facility at Linkoping, two hours by train from Stockholm, encounter an aerospace tradition that has, since 1926, kept pace with the world’s best.
The museum displays the J-29 “Flying Barrel”, the first “swept-wing” fighter after World War II; the Draken, Europe’s first supersonic fighter, which pioneered the “double delta wing”, and the Viggen, the first mainstream fighter to feature the canard – now common in high-performance fighters. India came close to buying the Viggen but Washington, which provided the engines, blocked the sale in 1978. The IAF bought the Anglo-French Jaguar instead, which still remains in service.
As Saab’s marketing team never tires of telling Indians, this excellence in defence production stemmed from Sweden’s traditional strategic independence – similar to India’s. After remaining neutral through World War II, Sweden declined to join NATO in 1949, choosing to cater for its own defence against Russia.
Responsible for its own defence, Sweden leveraged an existing scientific and engineering culture to develop an advanced aerospace and defence industry. In the late 1950s, the Swedish Air Force was the world’s fourth largest, fielding over 1,000 frontline aircraft.
Anticipating that a Soviet invasion would quickly render its airfields unusable, the Swedish Air Force insisted on light, versatile fighters that could operate from short stretches of highway, refuelling and rearming in minutes before re-joining battle.
This is the tradition that shapes the JAS-39 Gripen E, Saab’s latest and most advanced fighter that is expected to make its first flight by end-2016. Unlike Dassault’s Rafale, which endured tortuous years of wait before Egypt became its first export customer, the Gripen E has been selected by Brazil even before its first flight. In winning the Brazil tender, the Gripen E beat the Rafale, and Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
In sheer aerodynamic performance, the Gripen E will probably be a match for the F-16 Block 70. While the former has still to fly, its predecessor, the Gripen D, was extensively evaluated by theIAF – mainly to its satisfaction – as part of the 2007 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) tender. The Gripen E, incorporating a new General Electric F-414 engine; is larger, heavier and more powerful than the Gripen D, which had an older F-404 power plant.
Even the avionics are comparable. The F-16’s Northrop Grumman APG-83 airborne electronically scanned array (AESA) radar is a proven, highly effective combat system. But theGripen E could score with more sophisticated data networks that bring together inputs from multiple sensors – such as airborne warning and control systems (AWACS), satellites and a fighter’s own AESA radar – fusing data to present a comprehensive picture of the air battle in a cockpit arrangement that is amongst the world’s most pilot-friendly.
With combat performance similar, the choice between the F-16 and Gripen E could boil down, as IAF boss, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said last month, to two factors – procurement and operating cost, and technology transfer.
In procurement cost, Lockheed Martin would score by transferring a fully amortised assembly line from Forth Worth, Texas to India. Further, by creating a vendor and sub-vendor eco-system in India to sustain a global inventory of 3,200 F-16s, spares and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) would be cheaper.

http://idrw.org/saab-links-gripen-bid-with-tejas-to-counter-f-16-production-numbers/
 
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Saab links Gripen bid with Tejas programme, to counter F-16 production numbers




By Ajai Shukla
Linkoping, Sweden
Business Standard, 21st Oct 16


The contest to supply the Indian Air Force (IAF) a single-engine, medium fighter is currently playing out as a two-horse race. US giant, Lockheed Martin, is the Goliath looking to slay the David that is Swedish firm, Saab.

Lockheed Martin, which has offered to shift its F-16 production line to India, is the world’s biggest defence firm, with US $46.1 billion dollars in sales last year and an order backlog of almost $100 billion. Saab, which has offered its latest fighter, the Gripen E, appears a relative minnow, with $3 billion in sales last year, and an order book of $12.9 billion.

Yet, Saab is an extraordinarily accomplished minnow. Visitors to the Swedish Air Force Museum near Saab’s aerospace facility at Linkoping, two hours by train from Stockholm, encounter an aerospace tradition that has, since 1926, kept pace with the world’s best.

The museum displays the J-29 “Flying Barrel”, the first “swept-wing” fighter after World War II; the Draken, Europe’s first supersonic fighter, which pioneered the “double delta wing”, and the Viggen, the first mainstream fighter to feature the canard --- now common in high-performance fighters. India came close to buying the Viggen but Washington, which provided the engines, blocked the sale in 1978. The IAF bought the Anglo-French Jaguar instead, which still remains in service.

As Saab’s marketing team never tires of telling Indians, this excellence in defence production stemmed from Sweden’s traditional strategic independence --- similar to India’s. After remaining neutral through World War II, Sweden declined to join NATO in 1949, choosing to cater for its own defence against Russia.

Responsible for its own defence, Sweden leveraged an existing scientific and engineering culture to develop an advanced aerospace and defence industry. In the late 1950s, the Swedish Air Force was the world’s fourth largest, fielding over 1,000 frontline aircraft.

Anticipating that a Soviet invasion would quickly render its airfields unusable, the Swedish Air Force insisted on light, versatile fighters that could operate from short stretches of highway, refuelling and rearming in minutes before re-joining battle.

This is the tradition that shapes the JAS-39 Gripen E, Saab’s latest and most advanced fighter that is expected to make its first flight by end-2016. Unlike Dassault’s Rafale, which endured tortuous years of wait before Egypt became its first export customer, the Gripen E has been selected by Brazil even before its first flight. In winning the Brazil tender, the Gripen E beat the Rafale, and Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

In sheer aerodynamic performance, the Gripen E will probably be a match for the F-16 Block 70. While the former has still to fly, its predecessor, the Gripen D, was extensively evaluated by the IAF --- mainly to its satisfaction --- as part of the 2007 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) tender. The Gripen E, incorporating a new General Electric F-414 engine; is larger, heavier and more powerful than the Gripen D, which had an older F-404 power plant.

Even the avionics are comparable. The F-16’s Northrop Grumman APG-83 airborne electronically scanned array (AESA) radar is a proven, highly effective combat system. But the Gripen E could score with more sophisticated data networks that bring together inputs from multiple sensors --- such as airborne warning and control systems (AWACS), satellites and a fighter’s own AESA radar --- fusing data to present a comprehensive picture of the air battle in a cockpit arrangement that is amongst the world’s most pilot-friendly.

With combat performance similar, the choice between the F-16 and Gripen E could boil down, as IAF boss, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said last month, to two factors --- procurement and operating cost, and technology transfer.

In procurement cost, Lockheed Martin would score by transferring a fully amortised assembly line from Forth Worth, Texas to India. Further, by creating a vendor and sub-vendor eco-system in India to sustain a global inventory of 3,200 F-16s, spares and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) would be cheaper. Aviation analysts like IHS Jane’s 360 assess the Gripen’s “operating cost per hour” to be lower than any comparable fighter, but that advantage would be nullified by the scale of the F-16 production business.

Currently, there are less than a hundred Gripen E on order: 60 by Sweden, and 36 by Brazil. But Saab hopes more will follow, and there could also be interest in an aircraft carrier version of the fighter --- the Sea Gripen.

Saab’s strategy, therefore, hinges on a technology-based deal that Lockheed Martin simply cannot offer because of US export control laws. Linking its offer with the development of the indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Saab has offered to help the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) fast-track the Tejas Mark 1A. The four improvements required to the current Tejas — better combat radar, more lethal weapons, dedicated electronic warfare capability and better maintainability --- are well within Saab’s capabilities. Sweetening the deal, Saab has offered to partner ADA in developing India’s planned next-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).

New Delhi’s choices, therefore, are: on the one hand, the F-16’s lower price and the opportunity to become an industrial supplier to a 3,200-strong global F-16 fleet. On the other hand, Saab’s technology partnership, unencumbered by a restrictive export control regime, which could smoothen the induction of the LCA and AMCA.

Theoretically Washington could veto the Gripen bid, just as it had the Viggen. The Gripen E flies with US engines and other aircraft systems. Yet, that is highly unlikely, given the closeness of US-India relations, and Washington’s frequent declarations that it would like to see India’s military built up into a more powerful regional force.

Finally, Saab offers a less controversial route to a contract that could encounter political attack. In the Indian psyche, the F-16 remains strongly linked with Pakistan. Washington cleared a tranche of F-16 Block 50/52 in the last one year --- a procurement that was eventually blocked by the US Congress, through the denial of funding. The appetite of the government to buck this trend remains uncertain.

@PARIKRAMA All your words are coming true:tup:
 
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Let me get this straight.

2052 radar already in development with Israel
Uttam AESA is in Proto stage
Tejas already have BVR capability. Not to mention the Rafale offset linked to this.
ECW suite already developed by DARE.
Maintainability is already present by virtue of this being a Indian product.

What can Gripen bring to this?

For Kaveri project again, Rafale offset.
 
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http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/exclusive-why-pakistan-may-stop-getting-f-16-fighters-from-us-1477353
DELHI:
HIGHLIGHTS
  1. Lockheed Martin has offered to builld F-16 fighters in India
  2. Pak won't be able to acquire India-built F-16s
  3. India has recently bought 36 Rafale jets from France for 58,000 crores

If India were to acquire the US-designed F-16 fighter it would effectively mean that the Pakistan Air Force will not be able to acquire the latest variant of the jet that it has operated for 33 years.

That's because Lockheed Martin has proposed to the Indian government that it is willing to transfer its entire F-16 manufacturing line from Fort Worth in the US to India as part of the government's Make in India policy. In doing so, Lockheed would also aim to transfer the production of structural components of the F-16 from production facilities in Greece, Israel and Turkey in a phased approach. If new-build F-16s are eventually constructed in India, there would be no question of them being exported to Pakistan. NDTV has also learnt that Lockheed Martin would not be in a position to set up a production facility for the supply of just a handful of new-build F-16s to Pakistan.


Earlier this week, Lockheed Martin officially responded to an Indian government letter asking whether they would be able to provide the Indian Air Force with a high performance, single engine, multi-role fighter. Lockheed, which had also submitted an unsolicited bid earlier this year, has always stated that its F-16 should be the fighter of choice for the IAF despite it being the main fighter operated by its adversary, the Pakistan Air Force.

Senior executives of Lockheed Martin have indicated to NDTV that the transfer of the F-16 production line to India would mean that India and the US will have an altogether new strategic relationship since India would become the world's largest supply base for the 3,200 F-16s being operated by 24 countries around the world. Pakistan would be unwilling to acquire a made-in-India F-16 Block 70, the latest variant of the jet being proposed for India. India would, obviously, not be willing to supply its primary adversary with a fighter jet.
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That said, Pakistan could, hypothetically, acquire components of its existing F-16 fighters from India if the production line were transferred here though Lockheed Martin executives point out that these spares would be stocked at company facilities outside India which would meet the requirement of any country.

f-16_650x400_41477051028.jpg


Inputs from the F-16 radars and other sensors would be processed and presented through multi-function displays in the cockpit and a helmet-mounted sight worn by the pilot.

Importantly, the variant of the jet that Lockheed is offering India is far more advanced than that operated by Pakistan since it would include technology used in the latest US Air Force fighters, the F-22 and the F-35. According to Randall L. Howard, who looks after F-16 Business Development for Lockheed Martin, "leveraging the technology that we've designed and integrated on F-22 and F-35, we are reintegrating those technologies back into the F-16. We're putting state of the art mission computers, data management systems, a one Gigabyte ethernet data system and a new centre pedestal display" onto the F-16 Block 70. In simple terms this means that the F-16, if acquired by the Indian Air Force, would have unparalleled data-fusion whereby inputs from its radars and other sensors would be processed and presented to the pilot in a cogent, easy-to-understand format on multi-function displays in the cockpit and a helmet-mounted sight worn by the pilot. The pilot would be able to simultaneously detect dozens of targets and threats in the air, on the ground and out at sea depending on the terrain.
But Lockheed Martin knows that winning a multi-billion dollar contract in India will not be easy. Swedish firm Gripen International is also responding to the Defence Ministry's letter by offering its state-of-the-art Gripen-E fighter which has recently been acquired by Brazil. Gripen’s parent company SAAB has offered to work with Hindustan Aeronautics to develop a new variant of India's Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and also transfer technology for India to develop its next indigenous fighter, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), which has a stealth design. The Gripen is also, fundamentally, a newer design than the F-16, having entered service for the first time in the late nineties as opposed to the F-16, which was developed in the seventies.

Ironically, both the F-16 and the Gripen had been rejected by the Air Force when it shortlisted the more capable French Dassault Rafale fighter as part of its Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft tender. That tender, however, fell through, and India ultimately had to acquire just 36 Rafale fighters in an off-the-shelf purchase from France in a deal worth approximately 58,000 crores though its initial requirement was for at least 126 jets. The F-16 and the Gripen are now back in contention because the government has decided to operate different categories of fighter aircraft - the Sukhoi-30 (a heavy fighter), the Rafale (a medium weight fighter), the F-16 or Gripen (a light to medium weight fighter) and the indigenous Tejas (a light weight fighter).
 
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Its an offer from their side. No confirmation from India. Yet to decide.
 
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IAF's plan to replace ailing MiG with 'Make in India' combat aircraft heading for trouble

iaf.jpg

NEW DELHI: An Indian Air Forceplan to replace its MiG fighter fleet with a 'Made in India' combat aircraft is heading for trouble. As of now the choice is between two aircraft from Sweden and the US, both of which failed a comprehensive technical evaluation process in 2010. Plus, there are grumbles that other countries which have fighter jets were not called at all.

ET spoke to senior officials for this report. They did not want to be identified. An IAF spokesperson told ET he could not comment on the issue.

IAF's communication to the US and Sweden earlier this month said the force was looking for a modern, proven single-engine fighter aircraft in operational service. IAF didn't offer any details of minimum performance levels, asking only for a "4th generation fighter" — a broad qualification that also fits India's long-under-development light combat aircraft (LCA).

Industry experts, who spoke off record, said IAF's approach so far can get the force into a single vendor situation and, therefore, a recipe for slowdown in decision-making.

A single vendor situation often leads to questions over fairness in the selection process. The aim is to make a choice from a multiple vendor situation.

People familiar with the situation said since IAF's communication asked for fighters in operational service, there was little logic in restricting it to Sweden (which has Saab-manufactured Gripen) and the US (which offers Lockheed Martin's F-16).

This, said experts, is even more surprising given that Gripen and F-16 didn't make the cut after IAF held an evaluation exercise in 2010. France'sMirage 2000, no longer in production but in service, could have also met IAF's broad criteria.

Plus, before a 'Make in India' plan for fighter aircraft can start, the defence ministry will have to move ahead on its Strategic Partnership (SP) model, which will provide guidelines for private sector companies participating in major military manufacturing programmes.

Among other questions the SP model is yet to address are the issues on long-term agreements with private sector companies and the role of public sector defence units.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-heading-for-trouble/articleshow/54992034.cms
 
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