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Typhoon's competitor in the medium multi-role
combat aircraft (MMRCA) tender, the French firm
Dassault's Rafale, already has a naval version
that is operational on France's lone nuclear-powered
aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
Officials of BAE Systems, one of the four partner
companies in EADS for the Typhoon programme, told
IANS during a visit to their RAF Warton production
facility in Britain recently that India can exercise
the choice of being a partner nation and leading
the programme for the carrier-borne version of
the aircraft if it wins the MMRCA tender. At present,
Britain, Italy, Spain and Germany are partners
in the Typhoon programme.
According to the BAE Systems officials, the Typhoon,
which is a shore-based combat jet, has the potential
to be a carrier-borne aircraft, provided a few
modifications are made to the aircraft itself,
essentially in a ski-jump take-off configuration
due to the thrust-vectoring 90 kN (kilo Newton)
engine that powers it.
Among the changes, it identifies strengthening
of the undercarriage of the aircraft to assist
in hard landings on a carrier's deck, fitting
a carrier hook for arrested landings, and a good
paint coating to help it withstand the vagaries
of nature at sea.
The choice of the Typhoon for the Indian Navy,
they said, will complement the experience of operating
the British Sea Harrier vertical-landing carrier-borne
aircraft on board its lone aircraft carrier, INS
Viraat, for over two decades now. Of the nearly
30 Harriers India had got for INS Viraat, only
about 10 are left in service, with the rest lost
in air crashes.
The offer has been made keeping in mind the Indian
Navy's request for information issued in 2009.
But the Indian Navy itself is not very amused
with the offer.
First, according to officials, the Indian Navy
plans to induct the Russian-built Admiral Gorshkov
or INS Vikramaditya by end-2012. This warship
will deploy Russian MiG-29K naval fighter jets
and for this, the vessel is being reconfigured
into a ski-jump take-off but arrested landing
(STOBAR) mode at the Sevmash shipyard in Russia.
The same aircraft will be operated from the flight
deck of India's indigenous aircraft carrier, under
construction at the Cochin Shipyard, when it is
inducted in the middle of this decade. Hence the
Indian Navy has placed a total order for 45 MiG-29Ks
for the two carriers from Russia.
For the future, the navy wants the Defence Research
and Development Organisation's indigenous Tejas
light combat aircraft's naval variant to fructify.
If it does, then it may be the future carrier-borne
aircraft of the navy for its two more indigenous
aircraft carriers planned for construction at
the Cochin Shipyard. But that decision is a long
shot as it stands today, according to senior naval
aviation officers.
But here is where the EADS, and BAE Systems in
particular, are hopeful in pitching the Typhoon
as a powerful STOBAR platform for the future indigenous
aircraft carriers of India.
(IANS)
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