SUPER ACHIEVER

Boeing is confident of its chances in winning the Indian Navy requirement for carrier borne fighter aircraft

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The Indian Navy’s search for a new carrier-borne fighter aircraft under the MultiRole Carrier Borne Fighter Programme is gathering momentum. The navy will acquire the new fighters to first augment and likely later, replace its fleet of Russian-origin MiG29K fighter jets. The deal for 26 aircraft is a direct face-off between French aviation major Dassault Aviation and its Rafale M (Marine) and US aerospace giant Boeing with its F/A-18E Super Hornet. Boeing is offering the Super Hornet in E-Variant (single-seater) and F-Variant (two-seater) to the Indian Navy. It stresses that the Super Hornet is fully compliant with INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant aircraft carriers and will be able to operate on the deck, in the hangar and on the lifts of the Indian Navy’s aircraft carriers. Boeing’s prospects for the deal have also been boosted by the US decision to provide India with a waiver on the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). The CAATSA waiver also highlights India’s growing defence partnership with the USA, which could now culminate in a fighter deal, which has long eluded American firms operating in India.