Indian Navy Requires 100 Indigenously Made Deck-based Fighters

Senior sources aware of the situation indicated at Aero India 2023 on Tuesday that a proposal to design and develop an indigenous deck-based fighter for the Indian Navy is likely...

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July 12, 2023
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Senior sources aware of the situation indicated at Aero India 2023 on Tuesday that a proposal to design and develop an indigenous deck-based fighter for the Indian Navy is likely to be taken up soon by the Cabinet Committee on Security, with the navy’s need projected to be about 100 aircraft.

Deck-based Fighters for Indian Navy

According to Girish S Deodhare, director general of the Aeronautical Development Agency, the first prototype of the twin-engine deck-based fighter (TEDBF) could fly in 2026 and be ready for production in 2031. The navy is considering importing a new deck-based fighter as a stopgap measure until the indigenous TEDBF is ready. According to officials, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited would construct the new fighter at a rate of eight aircraft per year.

Also read: All You Need To Know About Indian Navy MRCBF (Multi-Role Carrier-Borne Fighter)

Indian Navy Requires 100 Indigenously Made Deck based Fighters

In a straight competition to equip the navy with 26 new deck-based fighters for INS Vikrant, the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, the French Rafale-M fighter edged out the American F/A-18 Super Hornet. Currently, the navy has two aircraft carriers: INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya.

According to Deodhare, the TEDBF will equal the capabilities of the Rafale M and the F/A-18 Super Hornet. Dassault Aviation produces the Rafale, while Boeing produces the Super Hornet. “The knowledge gained while developing the light combat aircraft (navy) will be useful for the TEDBF project.” It is currently in the basic design stage and should be completed soon. “The wing folding design mechanism has been finalised (to ensure the plane takes up the least amount of space on an aircraft carrier),” Deodhare said.

Indian Navy Requires 100 Indigenously Made Deck based Fighters 1

To be fair, TEJAS (Navy) is simply a technology demonstrator, but it demonstrates that India has created specialist technologies related to deck-based fighter operations, and it will pave the road for the TEDBF to be designed and manufactured.

The TEJAS (Navy) landed and took off for the first time from INS Vikrant last week. As part of ongoing flight trials, two TEJAS (navy) prototypes are now operating from the aircraft carrier. Vikrant was commissioned into the navy in September, marking a watershed moment in the country’s goal for defence self-sufficiency. The Russian-origin MiG-29K fighter jets that use the ski-jump to take off and are recovered by arrestor wires, or what is known as STOBAR (short take-off but arrested recovery) in navy terminology, are also taking part in the flight trials on board INS Vikrant.

tejas vikrant 3 — LCA Tejas Landing on INS Vikrant

The INS Vikramaditya also has MiG-29K fighters. In August 2020, TEJAS (Navy) landed and took off for the first time from Vikramaditya. Vikrant, which has 76% indigenous content, will operate a 30-aircraft air wing. The 45,000-tonne Vikrant was built at Cochin Shipyard for 20,000 crore. Only the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China are capable of building aircraft carriers of this scale. It was named after the navy’s aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, which served from 1961 to 1997.

The Navy is also considering building a second indigenous aircraft carrier to spread India’s maritime dominance in the remote seas. “We are still working on some aspects of IAC-2, such as its size and desired capabilities.” But, for the time being, we have placed a hold on it (IAC-2) because we have just commissioned the Vikrant and are quite pleased with the ship. We’re considering a repeat order for IAC-1 (Vikrant) instead of IAC-2 to capitalise on the skills gained during the former’s development. We are currently in the negotiation stage,” Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar stated in December 2022.

The INS Vikramaditya was purchased used from Russia for $2.33 billion. Given its large area of interest, the navy claims it requires three such floating airfields. The Indian Navy has operated four aircraft carriers: Vikrant (British origin) from 1961 to 1997, INS Viraat (British origin) from 1987 to 2016, and INS Vikramaditya from 2013 onwards.

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