India is a big fat sheep in the international arms market, and for India's arms procurement in recent years, it can be said that the United States, Russia, Britain, France and other major arms exporters are fiercely competitive. In India, there is always a purpose, that is, only buy expensive, not buy the right, which also makes India's unit price of purchasing weapons hit a new high in the world. For the world's major arms exporters, of course, it is a lot of money, and it is happy to be proud. However, the latest news made Russia frown a little, so that it could not be a little overjoyed, after all, India is going to purchase the next generation of naval carrier-based fighters.
According to the Russian satellite news agency Moscow, July 6 , Vice Admiral SN Ghormade of the Indian Navy said that India has ended the selection test of its naval carrier-based aircraft between the US-made "Super Hornet" and the legal "Rafale", in which the Indian side will select its next-generation carrier-based aircraft. This means that Russia's carrier-based fighters will not have the opportunity to compete with India's next generation of carrier-based fighters, which is tantamount to the initial efforts of Russia being wasted. India will choose a Western-style carrier-based fighter, which is tantamount to a 180-degree turn in the Indian Navy.
On June 1, India's Businessworld reported that the Indian government had decided to halve its largest overseas procurement plan for warplanes, from 114 to 57. Overseas procurement of multi-role fighter jets is scheduled to start in 2018 with an estimated value of $20 billion for 114 aircraft. Lockheed Martin (F-21), Boeing (F-15EX and F/A-18 Super Hornet), Dassault (Rafale), Saab (Gripen), Sukhoi (Su-35), MiG (MiG-35) and Eurofighter. The deadline for announcing a new tender for the procurement of 57 aircraft is the end of 2022. Obviously, India has reached the time of final decision, but india's decision seems to have some problems.
In order to obtain orders from India, Boeing conducted a ski-jump take-off test of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet carrier-based fighter
It should be known that there are currently Russian MiG-29 carrier-based aircraft deployed on the Indian "Vikramaditya" aircraft carrier, and other Indian aircraft carriers are also designed according to the MiG-29 carrier-based aircraft. India's aircraft carriers are basically medium and light aircraft carriers, which means that in such aircraft carrier deployments, heavy carrier-based fighters are themselves a huge risk. Because the deck area of the medium and light aircraft carriers is relatively small, this greatly limits the take-off and landing operations of medium and heavy carrier aircraft. According to normal needs, India's aircraft carriers are medium and light carrier-based fighters, and the MiG-29, as a medium-sized carrier-based aircraft, is already the operational limit of Indian aircraft carriers.
MiG-29K carrier-based aircraft on Indian aircraft carriers
However, what we are seeing now is that India is ready to buy the F 18 and the French Rafale as carrier-based aircraft, both of which are medium-heavy segments. According to the standard of the US Navy equipped with carrier-based aircraft, the maximum take-off weight of the F-18EF is 30 tons, and the maximum take-off weight of the F-35 is 32 tons, and the take-off weight of this level is not a standard medium-sized aircraft, but more like an "enhanced version" of the medium-sized aircraft. Obviously, this kind of equipment means that the overall ship-based aircraft of the US Navy in the future is biased towards more than medium-sized aircraft, that is, "quasi-heavy aircraft" between medium-sized aircraft and heavy aircraft. India's choice of the U.S. F18EF fighter means that India will face huge risks.
As we said earlier, India's aircraft carriers are within 50,000 tons, while the US aircraft carriers are all about 100,000 tons, which is definitely not an order of magnitude. But the problem is that the US aircraft carrier uses steam or electromagnetic catapult, which can completely solve the problem of heavy-duty take-off of fighters. However, for The Indian aircraft carrier, it does not have the ability to catapult at all, how should India purchase F18 fighters take off? If India wants to use a ski jump to take off, I really don't know how the 30-ton F18 can be skidded off on the narrow deck of an Indian aircraft carrier? Maybe the United States has developed a shrunken version of the F18 for India, but will the combat effectiveness of India's next generation of carrier-based fighters also be greatly reduced?
If India purchases French Rafale carrier-based fighters, this does have some advantages for India. After all, India has purchased air force-type Rafale fighters, which can also greatly simplify India's logistics support system. But the Rafale is also a medium-heavy fighter, and the Navy's version of the carrier-based Rafale M3 fighter also takes off with steam catapult on the French aircraft carrier CHARLES DE Gaulle. That is to say, India wants to buy French Rafale carrier-based fighters and needs to solve two problems, either to modify its own aircraft carriers and install catapults to achieve ejection takeoff; Either modify the Rafale fighter and achieve a skid jump take-off.
Obviously, the problem facing India is not only the modification of aircraft, for example, India's latest "Vikrant" aircraft carrier is facing a very difficult problem, that is, the size of the carrier-based aircraft elevator is small. The width of the lift designed with the help of the Russians was only about 9.12 meters, typically by the standards for carrying the MiG-29K and the carrier-based version of the Tejas. The problem was that it was very difficult to transport the Super Hornet and the Rafale fighters, because the Super Hornet with a folded wingspan of 9.75 meters and the 10.9-meter Rafale fighter without folding wings could not enter the hangar at all. This means that the latest Indian aircraft carrier can not carry the us and France fighter jets at all, and here we have to admire the Russian designers for leaving a hand for India.
The lifts of the aircraft carrier HMS Vikrant were too small in size
Obviously, no matter which way the modification is carried out, it will cost a huge financial price, which should be the first thing Indian policymakers should consider. Whether it's the F 18 or the Rafale, their modifications are tantamount to designing a new fighter and requiring a lot of experimentation, which cost a lot of money. But the problem is that India's purchase volume is not high, which is the huge cost for the United States and France to redevelop a new fighter jet, who should bear it? If India's aircraft carriers are equipped with catapults in the future, it is obvious that for India's current aircraft carrier design and manufacturing capabilities, India may be difficult to achieve such technological breakthroughs and functional applications in the short term.
The Vikrant has been painted with the hull number "R11"
However, Vice Admiral Gormad, deputy chief navy of the Indian Navy, pointed out at a press conference on the localization of naval products that although India will choose one of the aircraft, the goal is still to develop and build India's own twin-engine carrier-based fighter (TEDBF). Twin-Engine Carrier-Based Fighter (TEDBF) is an Indian Navy project launched by the Aviation Development Authority of India in 2020 and produced by Hindustan Aviation Limited. The twin-engine carrier-based fighter (TEDBF) will be deployed as a capital carrier aircraft on the aircraft carriers HMS Vikrant and HMS Vikramaditya. The first flight of the Twin-Engine Carrier-Based Fighter (TEDBF) is scheduled for 2026 and mass production will begin in 2031.
India Twin-Engine Carrier-Based Fighter Project (TEDBF)
For India's plan, it is really difficult to agree, after all, they have done too many long-distance runs. For India's self-developed carrier-based aircraft, which in itself is a reflection of the nation's self-control ability, we can praise India. But in the past history of India, we are really worried that India's development plan will be delayed again and again. Or India's purchase of foreign carrier-based aircraft is more reliable, after all, the strength of others is there. But the problem lies with India itself, can India find an aircraft carrier to match these carrier-based aircraft? This is the key that India should consider. Either build a bigger aircraft carrier or buy it from the United States? It is only one way, India is probably lacking in consideration. (The picture in this article comes from the network)