HAL Tejas Fails To Impress US Navy, Washington Likely To Sideline Indian Jet For Boeing Lockheed Trainer Aircraft
The US Navy is set to choose the successor to its T-45 Goshawk with a new advanced jet trainer. India had also pitched its homegrown HAL Tejas for the deal.
India had responded to the US Request for Information with a
detailed project report on the Lead in Fighter Training (LIFT) variant of the
HAL Tejas.
According to the RFI, the service is looking for a non-developmental,
land based jet trainer suitable for field carrier landing practice and “nuclear
aircraft carrier touch-and-go landings.
However, According to US Defence Experts the chances of
success of the two seat LCA Navy prototype must be considered extremely slim.
STFE engine performance satisfactory, more trials planned
India test launched Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile with
a new GTRE developed Small Turbo Fan Engine that develops a 450 kgf thrust,
while the Cruise Missile flew for very short range since the focus of the
latest trial was to gauge the performance of the new engine performance and it
has been said that the turbofan engine performed well.
Cruise Missile flew only for 150 kilometer that is just 15%
of its actual range but DRDO has plans to put the Cruise Missile and the Small
Turbo Fan Engine through their paces with more trials that have been planned
later this year and next year.
Two more trials have been planned where the focus will be to
validate the turbofan engine performance further. The next trial will be
planned will be of its full range and one more will be to demonstrate its
ability to fly at Low level while navigating to multiple waypoints.
Once STFE performance is validated then it will clear the
path for the development trial of the Air launched ITCM that has been planned
for the Indian Air Force (IAF) to be tested in 2022-23 to supplement supersonic
BrahMos-A.
DRDO has plans to develop Submarine Launched ITCM but with a
much longer range for the Indian Navy’s Project-75I and New SSN Nuclear Attack Submarine
Program. The two-stage ICTM is built on the technology that was developed for
India’s first indigenously built Nirbhay cruise missile. ITCM has many newer
technologies including locally developed turbofan engine STFE.
Rostec offers MC-21 Airliner Production in India
PJSC Irkut Corporation (part of United Aircraft Corporation
of Rostec) has offered to license manufacture in India its MC-21 airliner
models if India’s Private airline operators do show interest in the Russian
narrow body jetliner and place orders in sizeable numbers.
Boeing-737 MAX and the Airbus-A320 neo are by far the most
dominant offerings in the segment among the low cost airline operators in India
and it will be a task for Rostec to crack deals in India for the volume they desire
to start local manufacturing.
Russian narrow body Irkut is offering MC-21 in two models, with
seat between 132 and 175 passengers in two classes that are comparable to the
Boeing MAX7/8 and the Airbus A220 & A300 but do not match the range of the
Boeing 737 MAX8 and the Airbus A320 neo.
Irkut is offering MC-21 models powered by the Pratt &
Whitney GTF engines with Competitive pricing but Russia has a relatively poor
reputation when it comes to service and support of the previous generation of
the jetliner that was manufactured in the Soviet era.
L&T offers artillery gun co-developed with Nexter to
Indian Army
The Indian army’s urgent requirement for towed artillery guns
has taken an interesting turn. Larsen & Toubro Defence has offered to
supply 400 towed artillery gun systems, which the army earlier wanted to import
from an Israeli firm.
The L&T guns, jointly developed with French gun maker
Nexter, will be made locally with an indigenous content of over 70 per cent.
L&T is understood to have made the unsolicited offer to the Indian army
recently.
The firm has said it can deliver the first gun in less than a
year. The offer comes even as the army’s bid to buy the Israeli guns has hit a
dead end. Last month, the defence ministry overruled the army and Department of
Military Affair’ case to buy 400 artillery guns from Israeli firm Elbit
Systems.
The procurement was revived after border tensions with China
in 2020. As the army’s own recent experience showed during the 1999 Kargil
conflict, medium artillery fire support is crucial for offensive and defensive
operations in the mountains.
Lockheed proposes to set up MRO facility for F-21s in India
US aerospace company Lockheed Martin is open to setting up a
maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility in India for F-21 to further sweeten
its bid for the 114 fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force.
This comes against the backdrop of India planning to procure
114 medium multi role combat aircraft (MMRCA) for the air force. Lockheed is
competing with Boeing’s F-18, Swedish SAAB’s Gripen, Dassault Aviation’s Rafale,
Eurofighter Typhoon, and MiG-35 of Russia.
Lockheed has already tied up with Tata group to locally
manufacture the aircraft. It had previously promised to shift its production
line to India if it secures the MMRCA deal and not sell the F-21 to any other
country.
Once an MRO facility is built in India the aircraft need not
be taken to the US or other countries where Lockheed has an established MRO
unit.
