Thursday, November 30, 2023

India launches development of a new embarked combat aircraft, further complicating its modernization prospects

India is known for the complexity and slowness of its defense aeronautical programs. In a previous report , we notably returned to the incredible MRCA series, which has promised for more than twenty years to modernize the Indian air force and which could still experience several years of catastrophic delays. In such a context, the Indian Navy had rather appeared to be a good student in recent years, with relevant aircraft purchases and relatively rapid deliveries, including for helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft.

Unfortunately, the rapid growth of Indian naval aviation ended up irremediably dragging the Indian Navy into the political maelstroms surrounding the national aviation industry. In a context of economic crisis and the emphasis on "Make In India", the Indian Navy's arguments in favor of a rapid acquisition of foreign twin-engine aircraft ended up turning against it. Indeed, according to Indian sources , the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) of the Ministry of Defense has officially launched the development of a new twin-engine naval aircraft, the TEDBF (Twin Engine Deck-Based Fighter).

orca tejas Defense News | Fighter aircraft | Indo-Pakistani conflict
The TEDBF is also offered to the Indian Air Force, under the designation ORCA. But the IAF is struggling to agree to finance such a project, even though it already has more efficient Rafale , a more promising MMRCA 2 program, and a more ambitious AMCA stealth project.

LOGO meta defense 70 Defense News | Fighter aircraft | Indo-Pakistani conflict

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Fabrice Wolf
Fabrice Wolfhttps://meta-defense.fr/fabrice-wolf/
A former French naval aeronautics pilot, Fabrice is the editor and main author of the Meta-defense.fr site. His areas of expertise are military aeronautics, defense economics, air and submarine warfare, and Akita inu.

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