In a press conference on indigenisation in the Navy, the Navy Vice Chief Admiral SN Ghormade said trials of the American and French aircraft have been done to know their capability for aircraft carrier operations.

“Trials of Rafale and Boeing F-18 have done to prove their capability of operating from aircraft carriers. Our aim is indigenisation. We have a Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) aircraft plan but it will take some time. By the time that indigenous project takes place, we are looking at buying aircraft from foreign sources under Inter-Governmental Agreement,” he said.

The Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) is a developmental programme of the Defence Research and Development Organisation and it would be the advanced version of the Naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas.

The Navy had earlier plans of buying 57 fighters under the plan to buy aircraft from foreign sources but now that requirement has been cut down by more than half.

Answering a query on by when the Navy would be able to make conventional submarines on its own, the Navy Chief said, “We want to encourage indigenisation here. The idea is that we develop some capabilities here and build capabilities for indigenisation for the future.”

“We are continuing with Project 75 India,” Vice Chief Admiral SN  Ghormade said on the current status of Project 75 India.

Indian Navy has plans of building six modern conventional submarines under Project 75 India, a Rs 60,000 crore project.

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‘Buy Global Make in India’ is a category of procurement process provided in the Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 under Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to smoothen the acquisition of foreign weapon systems and their production within the country under the ‘Make in India’ in the defence programme.

Along with the indigenous LCA Tejas and the 5th Generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft project, the 114 MRFA project would also be required by the IAF to maintain an edge over both the Northern and Western adversaries.

Three American aircraft including the F-18, F-15 and F-21 (modified version of the F-16), Russian Mig-35 and Su-35 along with the French Rafale, Swedish Saab Gripen and the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft are expected to participate in the programme.

The Indian Air Force had also sought the views of these companies on the acquisition procedure that they would like to opt for in the programme and most of them have shown a preference for the Buy Global Make in India route only, they said.

The sources said that the force has also sought directions from the government on the project and when it can move the project for clearance from the Defence Ministry for further action.

Sources said the two squadrons of the Rafale combat aircraft were fully functional with 35 aircraft which have already arrived from France and only one plane is left for delivery.

Sources said the IAF would certainly require a capability that is being provided by Rafale and more planes would be required as the two squadrons had only met the emergency requirements of the force.

The sources said that the two Rafale squadrons played a major role in containing the situation after the Chinese started aggression in the Northern sector in Ladakh and were operationalised within few weeks of their arrival and induction into the IAF.

The sources said the 83 LCA Mark 1A would help the IAF replace the MiG-series planes as the MiG-23 and the miG-27 have already been phased out and the MiG-21s are also on the verge of being phased out.

The 5th generation AMCA is expected to be rolled out soon by the Defence Research and Development Organisation but its induction and trials are expected to take at least five to seven years from now.

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