According to reports, Rafale-M, the maritime version of the Rafale fighter in service with the Indian Air Force, has taken the lead in the competition for the lucrative fighter aircraft contract with the Indian Navy. The Indian Navy evaluated the Rafale-M from French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation and the F/A-18 Super Hornet from US-based Boeing earlier this year in an effort to add to its diminishing fleet of fighters, which is currently made up of troublesome MiG-29Ks of Russian provenance.
Sebastien Lecornu, the French Minister of Defense, was given a thorough tour of the recently commissioned aircraft carrier INS Vikrant off the coast of Mumbai while he was visiting India last month. The two fighters demonstrated their ability to launch off a ski-jump platform similar to those seen on Indian aircraft carriers earlier this year during trials at the shore-based test site at INS Hansa in Goa. The French Navy and the US Navy have used Rafale-Ms and Super Hornets in service for several years, respectively. These are run by the two navies from the nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
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The US and French carriers employ catapult-assisted take-off (catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery or CATOBAR) to operate aircraft, in contrast to India's two carriers, which use ski-jump (short take-off but arrested recovery or STOBAR) to assist aircraft take off from their decks. A ski-jump ramp on the ship's bow aids takeoff in the STOBAR system, which allows aircraft to launch from a carrier under their own power.
However, the CATOBAR system uses a catapult that is integrated into the carrier's flight deck to mechanically aid the aircraft during takeoff. Both of these techniques use arrestor wires for recovery, which quickly but smoothly slow down an aircraft as it arrives on deck. The Indian Navy will have two aircraft carriers with not enough fighters to maintain both warships operational after the introduction of the first indigenous aircraft carrier, Vikrant, on August 15 of this year.
The Navy has estimated that it will need 57 additional fighters by 2017. However, since the Twin-Engine Deck-Based Fighter is being built by the Aeronautical Development Agency, the needed number of fighters has been reduced to 26. The Indian Air Force has already acquired two squadrons of the fighter, has established maintenance facilities there, and may contract for further Rafale, giving Dassault's Rafale-M an advantage over Boeing's F/A-18. When New Delhi decides to purchase fighters, it will also take into account India's rapidly growing defence alliance with France, which also has interests in the Indian Ocean.