Aircraft that competed for the defence deal
There were six contenders for the world's biggest defence deal which included the Russian MiG- 35, Lockheed Martin's F-16 Falcon, Boeing's F-18 Hornet, the Swedish Saab Gripen, Eurofighter Typhoon and Rafale. Here is a look at these super combat machines. The Dassault Rafale fighter jet, manufactured by French Dassault Aviation, has emerged the winner in the race for the mammoth contract worth $10.4 billion, say sources. The Indian Air Force plans to buy 126 aircraft over the next ten years.
-
Rafale is a twin-engine delta-wing multi-role jet fighter aircraft and is called an "omnirole" fighter by its manufacturer Dassault Aviation. Introduced in 2000, the Rafale is being produced both for land-based use and for carrier-based operations. Apart from France, India would be the only other country to use the Rafale.
-
The Eurofighter Typhoon, which finished runners-up in the race, is considered to be one of the most advanced new generation multi-role/swing-role combat aircraft available on the market. Currently on the fleets of Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the twin-engine aircraft is Europe's largest military collaborative programme.
-
The MiG-35 is a further technological development of the MiG-29M/M2 and MiG-29K/KUB, both of which are owned by India. Developed by the Russian aviation division Mikoyan, the MiG-35 has vastly improved avionics and weapon systems, notably the new AESA radar and the uniquely designed Optical Locator System (OLS), relieves the aircraft from relying on ground-controlled interception (GCI) systems and enables it to conduct independent multi-role missions.
-
The F-16 Falcon, developed by Lockheed Martin, USA, the Fighting Falcon is a fighter with numerous innovations including a frameless bubble canopy for better visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while manoeuvring, a seat reclined 30 degrees to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot, and the first use of a relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire flight control system that makes it a highly nimble aircraft. Apart from USA, over 25 countries currently use the F-16 Falcon, most notably Pakistan and Israel.
-
F-18 Hornet is a twin-engine supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole fighter jet, designed to dogfight and attack ground targets. The twin engine aircraft has a top speed of Mach 1.8 and can carry a wide variety of bombs and missiles, including air-to-air and air-to-ground.
