Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader.

See Premium Plans

×

Language:

Download

Go BackAdd Note

Link

Embed

Save for later

dogfight!

India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft Decision

Ashley J. Tellis

© 2011 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rightsreserved.The Carnegie Endowment does not take institutional positions onpublic policy issues; the views represented here are the author’s ownand do not necessarily reﬂect the views of the Endowment, its staff,or its trustees.

For electronic copies of this report, visit:CarnegieEndowment.org/pubs

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20036Phone: +1 202 483 7600Fax: +1 202 483 1840CarnegieEndowment.org

Searching...

Result 00 of 00

00 results for result for

p.

Dogfight! India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft Decision

The Indian air force (IAF) is entering the final stages of selecting a new medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA). At a cost of about $10 billion for 126 aircraft, the MMRCA competition is the largest Indian… (More) The Indian air force (IAF) is entering the final stages of selecting a new medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA). At a cost of about $10 billion for 126 aircraft, the MMRCA competition is the largest Indian fighter tender in years. Eight countries and six companies eagerly await the outcome of the selection process, which has garnered high-profile attention for its sheer size, its international political implications, and its impact on the viability of key aircraft manufacturers. Furthermore, the winner will obtain a long and lucrative association with a rising power and secure a toehold into other parts of India’s rapidly modernizing strategic industries. Once selected, the aircraft will play an essential role in India’s military modernization as the country transitions from a regional power to a global giant.

The MMRCA competition comes as challenges to India’s national security are increasing in intensity and complexity. Ever since the 1971 war, India’s defense strategy has relied on maintaining superior airpower relative to both China and Pakistan. In the event of a regional conflict, Indian air power would serve as the country’s critical war-fighting instrument of first resort. Due to delays in its defense procurement process as well as accidents and retirements of older fighter aircraft, however, India’s force levels have reached an all-time low of 29 squadrons, and the IAF is not expected to reach the currently authorized force levels of 39.5 squadrons before 2017. This growing and dangerous hole in the IAF’s capabilities comes as India’s neighbors are aggressively modernizing their own air forces, making India’s need to expand its combat aircraft inventories all the more urgent.

In choosing an aircraft, the government of India must employ a speedy decision process that is focused on the right metrics, taking both technical and political considerations into account. The IAF has already evaluated the six MMRCA competitors against 660 technical benchmarks and has provided its recommendations to the Ministry of Defense. While the IAF has paid special attention to the fighters’ sensors and avionics, weapons, aerodynamic effectiveness, and mission performance, India’s civilian security managers are certain to emphasize technology transfer as well as costs when making their decision. In fact, the winning aircraft for the IAF ought to be chosen on the triangular criteria of technical merit, relative cost, and optimal fit within the IAF’s evolving force architecture.

Political considerations, however, will be key in the selection process. In choosing the winning platform, Indian policy makers will seek to: minimize the country’s vulnerability to supply cutoffs in wartime, improve its larger military capacity through a substantial technology infusion, and forge new transformative geopolitical partnerships that promise to accelerate the growth of Indian power globally. While Indian leaders may be tempted to split the purchase among vendors to please more than one country, doing so would needlessly saddle the IAF with multiple airframes in return for meager political gains.

Given the technical and political considerations, New Delhi should conclude the MMRCA competition expeditiously, avoid splitting the purchase between competitors, and buy the “best” aircraft to help India to effectively prepare for possible conflict in Southern Asia. Because of the dramatic transformations in combat aviation technology currently underway, the Indian government should select the least expensive, mature, combat-proven fourth-generation fighter for the IAF as a bridge toward procuring more advanced stealth aircraft in the future.

Under this criterion, the European aircraft are technically superb, but the U.S. entrants prove to be formidable “best buys.” If Washington wants an American aircraft to win the game, however, it will need to offer generous terms on the transfer of technology, assure India access to fifth-generation U.S. combat (Less)

Download or Print

Add To Collection

3.7K

Reads

42

Readcasts

8

Embed Views

Published by

Carnegie Endowment for...

TIP Press Ctrl-F⌘F to search anywhere in the document.

Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader.

See Premium Plans

Info and Rating

Category:	Uncategorized.
Rating:	3.0 (1 Rating)
Upload Date:	01/31/2011
Copyright:	Attribution Non-commercial
Tags:	indian air force medium multirole combat aircraft indian air force medium multirole combat aircraft (fewer)

Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or readfalse online for free.

Flag for inappropriate content

Download and Print this Document

Read offline in your PDF viewer
Edit this document in Adobe Acrobat, Notepad
Keep a copy in case this version is deleted from Scribd
Read and print without ads
Email the file

Choose a format to download in

Download

Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader.

See Premium Plans

Recommended

Threat Warning for Tactical Aircraft

2144 Reads

$9.99

Aircraft Crash Sites at Sea - a Scoping Study project report

Wessex Archaeology

52949 Reads

Aircraft Systems Electrical, And Avionics Subsystems Integration 2n...

100876 Reads

Squadron Signal - 6015 - Soviet Aircraft of Today

2305 Reads

Aircraft Radio System

14510 Reads

SSP - In Action 065 - F-4 Phantom II

Charlie November

1611 Reads

Aircraft Design Projects for Engineering Students

1174 Reads

SSP - In Action 039 - Spitfire

Charlie November

1425 Reads

Instrument Flying Handbok

575 Reads

More From This User

Juggernaut: How Emerging Markets Are Reshaping Globalization

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

69 Reads

$16.00

Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Author...

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

58 Reads

$16.00

America's Challenge: Engaging a Rising China in the Twenty-First Ce...

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

61 Reads

$16.00

The China-India Nuclear Crossroads

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

68 Reads

$16.00

Confronting the Weakest Link: Aiding Political Parties in New Democ...

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

75 Reads

$16.00

Third Force: The Rise of Transnational Civil Society

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

73 Reads

$16.00

Putin’s Russia (Revised and Expanded Edition)

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

65 Reads

$16.00

Between Religion and Politics

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

67 Reads

$16.00

Getting to Pluralism: Political Actors in the Arab World

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

64 Reads

$16.00

Change or Decay: Russia's Dilemma and the West's Response

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

53 Reads

$16.00

Development Aid Confronts Politics: The Almost Revolution

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

65 Reads

$16.00

Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad: In Search of Knowledge

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

68 Reads

$16.00

Advancing the Rule of Law Abroad: Next Generation Reform

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

80 Reads

$16.00

Yemen on the Brink

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

53 Reads

$16.00

Managing Global Issues: Lessons Learned

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

49 Reads

$16.00

Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats, Second ...

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

84 Reads

$16.00

Understanding Unconventional Oil

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

781 Reads

India and Europe in a Multipolar World

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

786 Reads

Sudan: From Conflict to Conflict

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

786 Reads

The Economic Agenda of the Islamist Parties

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

731 Reads

Gaza Five Years On: Hamas Settles In

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

672 Reads

Libya’s Troubled Transition

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

730 Reads

The Rise of Egypt’s Workers

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

658 Reads

The Big Three in EU Foreign Policy

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

622 Reads

Tunisian Media in Transition

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

728 Reads

Notes

Load more

About

Premium

Advertise with us

Support

Partners

Developers / API

Legal

© Copyright 2013 Scribd Inc.

Language: