Indian Navy issues RFI for new aircraft

Indian Navy (IN) has issued Request for Inquiry (RFI) to acquire new generation aircraft to operate from its aircraft carriers it intends to induct over the next decade. The RFI does not state the number of aircraft it intends to procure.

The RFIs have been issued to global majors, who include Lockheed Martin, Boeing for F/A-18, Eurofighter Typhoon, French Dassault for Rafale, Rosoboronexport for newer Russian MiG or Sukhoi shipboard fighters. The RFI for new shipboard fighters is over and above the 45 MiG-29K fighter aircrafts India has acquired from Russia, 16 of which were ordered along with INS Gorshkov aircraft carrier in 2004.

In the meantime, signaling that U.S. was willing to take its partnership with India to the next level, Orville Prins of Lockheed Martin has stated that it would offer its B and C variant of the F-35 aircraft to the IN. The B version of the F-35 is a short take-off and vertical landing aircraft and the C version is an aircraft carrier-based version