The Indian Air Force will soon be putting six of the world's hottest current military combat jets through their paces, in order to select one as the outright winner of its 126-aircraft-strong MRCA (Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) contract, it was reported on June 21st 2009.

Among the aircraft in contention to win this contract are the French-built Dassault Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet designs, which presently serve with the French Air Force/Navy, the Royal Air Force and the United States Navy respectively.

Fighter Flight Trials

The scheduled for these fighter flight trials has slipped. Originally planned to have been wrapped up in March 2009, they have been postponed to July, but even this could now shift to August 2010, since part of the trials involve assessing how the aircraft handle in Indian heat - most evident in the month of July - and certain manufacturers have said they cannot provide demo aircraft until September 2009. The six aircraft makers and types involved in the MRCA competition are the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing Super Hornet, along with the Lockheed Martin F-16, Saab JAS-39 Gripen and the Mig 35. In terms of nationality, these aircraft represent the US, France, Sweden, Russia, the UK, Italy, Spain and Germany (the last four being the quartet of nations responsible for the Typhoon's development).

All six have been contacted and asked to take part in the flight trials although, previously, the Rafale was close to being ruled out since all questions contained in the initial RfP (Request for Proposals) had not been answered. According to Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik - Chief of Air Staff for the Indian Air Force - the Rafale was definitely still involved. The "template for flight tests", he explained, "would be common to all'.

Fighter Jet Flight Assessments

Air Chief Marshal Naik issued the current edition of the Indian Air Force's defence publication at the Paris Air Show, which ended on June 21st. In comments made to the media, he described the fast pace with which the fighter jet flight assessments were planned to be executed. Initial aircraft and associated system trials would begin in Bangalore, he explained, following which the hot weather tests would take place in Jaisalmer.

"The evaluations would be in sequence, one after the other, starting from Bangalore", he said.

"In India, the aircraft would be subjected to performance trials which would include take off and landing characteristics, aircraft manoeuvring, and checks of certain systems in the air. Evaluation of its maintainability, mission support equipment, operations at high altitude and in specific environments will also be conducted. Analyses of some aspects operations of its avionics, radar and Electronic Warfare (EW) systems along with live firing of long range weapons would be conducted at vendor-specific locations."

The Indian Air Force will conclude these trials by selecting a single aircraft capable of fulfilling its military requirements, and that comes at the right price. It is expected that Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Saab, EADS, Dassault and Mig will each bring a pair of aircraft, giving them the capability to take part in different strands of the trials simultaneously.

126 new combat aircraft are required, but an option exists for the purchase of 63 more. The Indian Air Force anticipates that the chosen type will have entered military service by 2014, and will serve for up to four decades past that.

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