The Indian Navy is all set to conduct the second phase of sea trials in October end for India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-1) Vikrant. As per a report in The Hindu, the new aircraft carrier could be handed over to the Indian Navy in April 2022 and commissioned in August 2022.
During the first phase of trials, the navy tested Vikrant’s hull, main propulsion, power generation, and distribution and auxiliary equipment were tested, and the results were “extremely satisfactory” and “..the engine showed 100% performance and some issues which had come up were being addressed,” the report says, citing officials.
Right now the sole aircraft carrier operated by the navy flies the Russian-origin MiG-29K fighters and does not have enough aircraft to operate from both carriers. That is why a ‘request for information’ was issued in 2017 for the procurement of 57 twin-engine carrier fighters.
The Indian Navy is looking at Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Dassault Aviation Rafale and Saab Gripen-E and the trials will first be conducted on the Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) in Goa and then on the aircraft carrier, the report says, citing officials.
Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet has already demonstrated the ability to take off from a ski-jump in tests conducted in August 2020 at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, demonstrating its compatibility with the Indian Navy’s Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) aircraft launch system.
As India looks towards purchasing foreign fighters, under the Atmanirbhar Bharat it is also working on India’s indigenous Twin Engine Carrier-Based Deck Fighter (TEDBF), being designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Aeronautical Development Agency.
A new model of the fighter made a debut at the 2021 Aero India show in Bengaluru. Dr Girish S Deodhare, distinguished scientist and Programme Director (Combat Aircraft) and Director, Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), said, “From that one of the configuration preferred by the Navy was selected and the PSQRs are final,”.
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