IN­DIA STARTS DIS­CUS­SION WITH BOE­ING AND DASSAULT

It has been re­ported in the me­dia that he In­dian Navy has for­mally started dis­cus­sions with Boe­ing De­fense and Dassault Avi­a­tion for the ac­qui­si­tion of 57 mul­ti­role fight­ers to op­er­ate off its fu­ture air­craft car­ri­ers. The air­craft be­ing con­sid­ered are Boe­ingÕs F/A-18 Block III Su­per Hor­net and Dassault’s Rafale M F3R stan­dard. Both have been of­fered ear­lier also. Cur­rently the Navy is em­ploy­ing MiG-29K on INS Vikra­ma­ditya. It ap­pears that MiG-29K is not be­ing con­sid­ered as also SaabÕs Gripen mar­itime. RFP is likely to be is­sued by the end of the year when the spec­i­fi­ca­tions of the air­craft will be spelt out in it.