Upgraded fighters, new fighters and fifth-generation fighters for India

摘要

On the 78th anniversary of the Indian Air Force, AIR International spoke to Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Naik, its Chief of Air Staff, about the current status of various programmes.rnThe Indian Air Force (IAF) has completed field evaluation trials of all six aircraft types in its Medium-Multi Role Combat Aircraft (M-MRCA) competition and has submitted its staff evaluation report to India's Ministry of Defence for further processing. The likely timeframe for completion activities before the contract is signed is about six to eight months. "We expect the contract to be signed by March 2011. From thereon, the induction should begin by mid-2014 onwards," said Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Naik. The request for proposal for the M-MRCA programme was issued in August 2007 to six aircraft manufacturers: Boeing, Dassault, Eurofighter, Lockheed Martin, Mikoyan-Gurevich and SAAB.