Indian, U.S. firms collaborate on advanced fighter jet project
The Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) need for a reliable, indigenously produced advanced fighter jet soon could result in India producing the F-21, a cutting-edge variant of the U.S-made F-16. The move would mark the latest evolution in the long-standing collaboration between Lockheed Martin and India’s Tata Advanced Systems (TASL). It could also correspond to the closure of a factory in Nasik, India, that has been manufacturing Russian Su-30MKI fighter jets.
The single-engine, multirole F-21’s capabilities are tailored specifically to India’s needs, Vivek Lall, Lockheed’s vice president for strategy and business development, told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency. The capabilities include an advanced electronic warfare system, high-precision active electronically scanned array radar, long-range infrared search and track system, and triple missile launcher adapters.
The F-21 is being offered exclusively to India, according to IHS Jane’s Defense, to meet the IAF’s April 2019 tender for 114 multirole fighter jets within a budget of U.S. $18 billion.
“Lockheed Martin’s proposed F-21 partnership with India will deliver advanced, scalable capabilities to the IAF, provide unmatched industrial opportunities and accelerate India-U.S. cooperation on advanced technologies,” reported Lockheed in a company statement. The company added that the decision to manufacture the aircraft in India could create thousands of new jobs.
The proposed F-21 partnership has its roots in a 2017 agreement between Lockheed Martin and TASL to produce a variant of the F-16 in India, known as the F-16 Block 70. According to IHS Janes, the F-21 improves on the Block 70 with the addition of an aerial refueling probe.
In September 2018, the companies announced that wings for F-16 aircraft would be produced in India to serve the F-16 global supply chain.
Sukaran Singh, TASL’s chief executive officer, stated at the time that his firm was “delighted with the decision made by Lockheed Martin to select Tata Advanced Systems Limited for the production of F-16 wings in India,” thereby positioning TASL as a global provider of F-16 wings. He said the companies jointly produced airframe components for the C-130J aircraft and S-92 Sikorsky helicopter at TASL’s facility in Hyderabad, India.
Collaboration on a variant of the F-16 “gives us an excellent opportunity to showcase our technological expertise and advance our capability development,” Singh said. (Pictured: A computer-generated image shows the sleek design of the proposed F-21 aircraft.)
The start of the F-21 program is a disappointment for Russian aircraft maker United Aircraft Corp., which supplies the license, technology and most of the components for the Su-30MKI.
Indian manufacture of the Su-30MKI multirole fighter could end in 2020, Defense News magazine reported, should IAF orders for the Russian aircraft halt. The IAF could be scaling back orders in response to “the number of Su-30MKI jets lost in accidents over the last two decades,” an IAF officer told Defense News.
The first crash in India by an Su-30MKI occurred in 2009, PTI reported, followed by another in 2011, one in 2013, one in 2014, one in 2015, two in 2017 and one in 2018. The latest crash was on August 9, 2019. The crashes cost New Delhi more than U.S. $560 million, based on a cost of U.S. $70.3 million per plane, Defense Newsreported.
As a variant of the F-16, the F-21 belongs to a family of aircraft TASL called “the world’s most successful, combat-proven multirole fighter ever produced.”
Mandeep Singh is a FORUM contributor reporting from New Delhi, India.
