Indian Navy opts for Rafale M

The Dassault Rafale M emerged as the frontrunner for the Multi-Role Carrier-Borne Fighter (MRCBF) programme to supply 26 fighter aircraft for the Indian Navy aircraft carriers, thereby beating the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.

In the MRCBF programme two competitors were left, the Dassault Rafale M and the F/A-18E/F Block III Super Hornet. The Bharatiya Nau Sena (IN, Indian Naval Air Arm) has now submitted a report on the two fighters, which saw evaluation trials in India earlier this year, to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to take a final decision.

According to this report, the Rafale M has been found more suitable in meeting the operational requirements and criteria of the Indian Navy compared to the F/A-18 Super Hornet.

The outcome in this MRCBF programme will still be an interim solution till the indigenous twin-engine deck-based fighter (TEDBF) being developed by the indian Defence Research & Development Organsiation (DRDO) is ready.

Earlier the Indian Navy optioned the improved Light Combat Aircraft Navy (LCA-Navy) to be inducted as the new fighter. However, as the LCA is a single-engine aircraft, they must have abandoned this idea.

On 2 September 2022, India commissioned a second aircraft carrier, the INS Vikrant (R11) next to the INS Vikramaditya (R33). The INS Vikrant will become fully combat-ready by around mid-2023, after the MiG-29K/KUBs complete the crucial flight trials from the new carrier and the carrier is equipped with high-tech weapons like the Israeli-origin 80-km range Barak-8 surface-to-air missile systems. Currently, the Indian Navy operates around 39 MiG-29K/KUB fighter aircraft, but the operational serviceability for this aircraft is already a major problem for some years.

It has not been reported when the Indian MoD will take the decision ad when the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will clear the defence deal.

Photo (just illustrative) by Peter ten Berg (Scramble Archive)