The McGraw-Hill Companies
Aviation Week
MEMBER CENTER
LOG IN | REGISTER | SUBSCRIBE
Blogs Forums Photos Videos My Aviationweek

Blog Search

Search all Aviation Week.com blog content

Bookmark and Share
Blog Image
A Defense Technology Blog
There's Life In The Old Girl Yet

Via the invaluable Secret Projects site comes a brochure on Lockheed Martin's F-16IN proposal to India.

blog post photo

The options list is a mixture of features from the United Arab Emirates' F-16E/F and the Advanced Block 50 that is standard for other export customers. The active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar is the Northrop Grumman
APG-80 from the F-16E/F; the company's newly announced Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) is optimized for retrofits, and unlike the APG-80 does not need added power and cooling.

Also from the E/F are the big-screen glass cockpit and the General Electric F110-GE-132 engine.

However, the F-16IN does not have the E/F's integrated electro-optical system, presumably relying instead on a chin-station targeting pod. The Indian AF can pick the market-leading Rafael Litening - the UAE, for obvious reasons, won't. The F-16IN brochure depicts the VSI Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System, likewise taboo in the UAE. The EW system looks like the ITT ALQ-211(V)4 AIDEWS, selected by Chile and - according to a local press report - Turkey, where it beat a BAE Systems/Aselsan system that the Turkish MoD had invested heavily in.

Lockheed Martin has to overcome the "F-104S" syndrome in order to win the Indian Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contract: it's a reference to the Italian AF, who bought the last and greatest version of the elegant F-104 back in the mid-1960s and found themselves the sole operator of the type in the 1980s. Like the Gripen crew, they struggle against the Indian operator's perception that single-engine jets are lawn darts.

Lockheed Martin also argues that they have unparalleled experience in license production - F-16s have been license-built in four countries - and that a simple, low-cost fighter makes sense as a complement to the Su-30MKI.

Tags: lockheedf-16Indiaar99
Email this post
User Image
ELP wrote:
While I have no idea what India will pick, the F-16 is still a useful jet.
3/24/2008 8:57 AM CDT
User Image
Long term life costs suggest the Gripen, small size gives lower costs, but my money is on a MiG-29 derivative, since they already have extensive experience with the type.
3/24/2008 12:02 PM CDT
User Image
Bill: F-104S syndrome? With Chile, Greece, Israel, Oman, Poland and the UAE all still taking deliveries of the latest F-16 variants, and Morrocco about to order 24, it will be a long time (2040? 2050?) before India would end up being the sole remaining operator of the type, should it elect to procure the F-16IN.
3/25/2008 4:49 AM CDT
User Image
aniemyer wrote:
"...they struggle against the Indian operator's perception that single-engine jets are lawn darts." Well, after all, that is the name we stuck on the F-16A when it started punching into lawns all over the country when it was introduced! (and a lot easier to say than "world's newest day-VFR only all weather fighter.")

In all seriousness, the single engine mishap rate for the IAF is horrendous, across the board, which means that it's not the aircraft, it's the system (maintenance, flight training, proficiency, parts, etc.) in which it operates. I know the IAF has been taking this seriously and is trying to realign its culture in this regards, but it will take a near generation for all that to happen. I'd hate to see either the Gripen or the F-16 be at a disadvantage due to that perception. Question in my mind is MGWT performance numbers in hot/high environments for both birds.
3/25/2008 9:10 AM CDT
Most Recent Tags
Defense Industry News
Recent Photos
Industry Insight: Defense & Technology Insight by
Raytheon
Selected Videos