Rafale – M Fighter Jet Trial Operational Capability At SBTF In Goa
French defence minister Florence Parly, during a visit to India last month, had said that France will be interested to supply Rafale – M,the carrier-based jets to the Indian Navy.
“We know that the aircraft carrier will soon be…that aircraft are needed. We are open and ready to provide any other Rafale if this is India’s decision,” she said.
The MiG 29 Ks though formidable naval fighters, are not in enough numbers to equip both the aircraft carriers of the Indian Navy. Also the Naval Tejas 2 will still take some time. The Naval Tejas Mk1 can only be a gap filler at the most and will take at least three years to produce a full Squadron. Hence the Indian Navy is planning to procure a batch of fighter jets at least 16 to equip IAC Vikrant and that is likely to be commissioned in August and another 16 for shore basing on the Western Coast.
Accordingly, the Rafale maritime fighter aircraft on Monday demonstrated its take off capability at a naval facility in Goa, which replicates the Take Off set up of VIKRANT. The demonstration by the naval variant of the Rafale jet took place at the shore-based test facility (SBTF) at INS Hansa, the naval air station in Goa, IAC Vikrant is currently undergoing critical sea trials.
Soon the Rafale M should be landing and taking off from the Carrier itself for next phase of demonstration. This may be followed by actual trials. In March, F-18 Super Hornet is likely to demonstrate its Similar capabilities.
Over four years back, the Indian Navy had initiated the process to acquire 57 multi-role combat aircraft for its aircraft carrier.
File image of indigenous TEJAS Navy fighter undergoing tests at the SBTF at INS Hansa
Four planes were in contention for the deal which included Rafale M (Dassault, France), F-18 Super Hornet (Boeing, US), MiG-29K (Russia) and Gripen (SAAB, Sweden). The Request For Information issued by the Navy for procurement of the deck-based fighter jets sought to know at what level of Transfer of Technology (ToT) the companies are willing to share with India.
At present, the Indian Navy operates Russian-origin MiG-29K fighters from its sole aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. A maximum of 24 MiG29s can be accommodated at any one time on board. That will leave another 18 fighters ( 3 out of 45 have been lost due to crashes ) to equip VIKRANT which too can have a maximum of 24 fighters.
The F18 may have problem in fitting in the aircraft lift of the VIKRANT. Also it is of vintage quality than the Rafale M and is likely to come with lots of strings attached. Grippen is simply NO GO.
The best combination for India will be to equip VIKRANT with 16 X Rafale and 8× naval Tejas 1 for the time being. Similarly another 16x MiG29k may equip VKIRAMADITYA together with 8x naval Tejas MK1. The balance 26 MiG29s can be deployed on shore on the Eastern Coast and Andamans. For the Western Coast we may have another 16x Rafale M.
India had signed an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 for the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 59,000 crore for the Indian Air Force.
The first batch of five Rafale jets, manufactured by French Dassault Aviation, arrived in India on July 29, 2020.Already 33 Rafale jets have been delivered to the IAF by the plane’s maker Dassault Aviation.
So now India should order another 72 x Rafales for IAF with Make In India Condition and 32x Rafale M for the Indian Navy based on Govt to Govt negotiations.
