F-16IN: The best F16 yet for India

TIMES OF INDIA (Jan 17 2008)

A mistake covered up may cost the lives of a brave crew.” The message, displayed on a huge board at the assembly line of the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft at Lockheed Martin’s plant at Marietta, Georgia, stares at workers all the time, reminding them of the enormous responsibility on their shoulders.

The message could also become a marketing slogan for the leading US defence manufacturer as it looks forward to sealing a deal with India for supply of six of these military transportation planes and makes a pitch, with its upgraded F-16 fighter planes, for India’s biggest defence contract in two decades.

The contract for the supply of 126 medium multirole combat aircraft is estimated to be worth $14 billion, or Rs 55,000 crore. The Hercules deal, awaiting clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Security, would be the first direct military sale by a US company to India.

“The F-16 Fighting Falcon being offered to India has unique safety features that recover the aircraft — and save the pilot — even if the plane runs out of control,” Lockheed Martin executives told a group of Indian reporters at the F-16 production facility at Fort Worth in Texas. As the Indian Air Force grapples with an aging fleet, which has come to be known as flying coffins, the F-16’s safety features could be a USP, the executives said.

In fact, the company already has a name for the customized aircraft it intends to sell to India — F-16IN. It is also inclined to set up an assembly line in India in collaboration with Indian partners. The aircraft’s latest features, none of which are available in the version Pakistan has, include AESA (active electronically scanned array) radars, electronic warfare suites and infrared searching.

AESA gives the plane the capability to simultaneously track and destroy ground and air threats. Although supercruising, or cruising at supersonic speeds, is not being touted as one of the features of the new F-16, pilots flying the latest version say they often supercruise.

“The F-16IN is the most advanced F-16 ever,” said Chuck Artymovich, the company’s director, business development. Many in India might think Americans are fully absorbed in the Hillary, Obama or Romney campaigns but for Artymovich and his team, it’s a season of a full-time “India campaign”. Will the campaign lose momentum if the Indo-US nuclear deal falls through? Richard Kirkland, Lockheed Martin’s South Asia president, insists it won’t. “It has already got the backing of the US government and a go-ahead from the US Congress,” he says. Many in India, however, may not agree with him as they would not like to take a favourable US foreign policy for granted.

Lockheed Martin hopes to give a detailed proposal soon to the US government on the features and price of the F-16s on offer to India. The US government, in turn, will make a proposal to the Indian government offering F-16s and F-18s.
Incidentally, the F-18 Super Hornet, built by Boeing, is not to be mistaken for an upgraded version of the F-16. The Super Hornet is a supersonic carrier-based fighter aircraft and currently its only user is the US navy. The other aircraft competing for the Indian Air Force’s contract are the Russian MiG-35, the French Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon being offered by a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers and Swedish company Saab’s Gripen.

Why is Lockheed Martin not offering its new fifth-generation fighter aircraft F-35 to India? Company executives give three reasons: such an offer can be made only by the US government, manufacturing capability for the F-35 is still not adequate to meet the timeframe set by India, and the upgraded F-16 meets all the requirements put forward by the Indian government.

The F-35 Lightning II, yet to be officially rolled out, is a multirole stealth-capable strike fighter. It can
perform close air support, tactical bombing, and air-to-air combat.

In fact, the US air force is not going to acquire any more F-16s. Mass production of the F-35 is likely to begin by 2016, when it will start rolling out at the rate of one aircraft a day. “The F-35 is the fighter of the future,” company officials said, insisting that if India acquires the F-16 today, the F-35 would be its natural successor in future.

Meanwhile, the “India campaign” rolls on with even Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi being roped in. Lockheed martin executives have dug up a forgotten piece of history to emphasize the ties between the two countries. Thirty-five years ago, during the Chinese aggression, Prime Minister Nehru called up President Kennedy, who sent a fleet of Hercules aircraft to India. These aircraft stayed in India for nine months and carried troops and cargo to inaccessible areas in the Himalayas. The Herck also had two distinguished passengers — Nehru and daughter Indira.