With dramatic reductions in home military aircraft requirements in a turbulent industry, airframe makers are engaging Asian air forces and their governments for a slice of the fighter aircraft business as regional forces modernise. The air forces in the Asian region are slowly replacing their old and expired fleets in phases with the next generation MRCAs. Countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and Vietnam have been involved in evaluating and selecting newer aircraft types with multi-role capability. In India's "mother of all fighter deals" $10.5 billion MRCA Tender for 126 aircraft, six aircraft companies were bidding for this multi-billion dollar contract, which has been touted as India's single largest defence deal ever. To date, India has down selected to two aircraft, the Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon. This report looks at several ongoing and recent developments that had been taking place recently.
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