Thaindian News

By Vishnu Makhijani
Fort Worth (Texas), March 29 (IANS) The F-16IN Super Viper combat jet that is in the running for an Indian Air Force (IAF) order for 126 planes is the “most advanced” ever built and will enable the IAF to seamlessly transit to fifth generation fighters, its manufacturer Lockheed Martin says.

“The F-16, if selected, will be the most advanced ever built. The only other such aircraft in service is with the UAE Air Force,” Orville Prins, Lockheed Martin’s vice president (Business Development) for India, told a group of visiting Indian journalists here.

“The Super Viper has the most advanced technology and capability available today on the international market. It is truly the ultimate fourth generation fighter with all it brings to the battlefield,” he added.

According to Prins, an IAF team, while evaluating the F-16 at its manufacturing facility here, had found its performance “unbelievable and its acceleration and capability to manoeuvre remarkable”.

He also pointed out that the jet’s APG-80 AESA (advanced extended search array) radar was the only such operational in the international market today.

“The AESA radar provides outstanding situational awareness and detection, ultrahigh-resolution mapping with automatic terrain following and air-to-air tracking of multiple targets,” Prins said.

The AESA radar apart, he also pointed out that many technologies developed for the F-35 fifth generation fighter that the US Air Force has ordered, would be incorporated in the F-16 that India purchases.

“This will enable the IAF to seamlessly transit to the F-35 if, at some later stage, it decides to purchase the jet,” Prins said.

The Indian Navy has already submitted a request for information (RFI) for the F-35 in view of its unique short-take-off-vertical landing (STOVL) capabilities.

The F-16 is one of the six jets contending for the IAF’s $10 billion order that is likely to rise to 200 jets, the others being the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Saab Gripen, the Dasault Rafale and the MiG-35.

One set of flight trials was conducted in India last year and another in the country of manufacture earlier this year, which included the live firing of ammunition.

With the trials set to conclude next month, a shortlist will be drawn up after which the price negotiations will begin, a process that is likely to take a year before the IAF decides on the winning bidder.

Eighteen of the planes will be bought in a fly-away condition and the remaining manufactured in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) under a transfer of technology (TOT) agreement.

India’s partnership with Lockheed Martin, Prins noted, “can provide access to the highest technology, opportunities for technology co-development, low risk licensed production, transfer of technology and opportunities for extensive long-term business”.

The jet’s selection would also “facilitate a key strategic partnership with the United States and the US Air Force that would include joint training and logistical and operational concepts”, he added.

The F-16 first flew in 1974 and over 4,500 have been ordered so far by 25 countries.