F-16 'Falcon' to be assembled in India soon?

American manufacturer Lockheed Martin and Indian partner Tata Group are planning to establish a joint venture to assemble F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets in this South Asian country.

F/A-18 fighter jet.

According to Bloomberg news site, Lockheed Martin is actively "lobbying" the US Congress and Government for this billion-dollar plan.

In February 2016, the American manufacturer Boeing also made a similar proposal to India. Accordingly, Boeing wanted to establish a joint venture with India to assemble the F/A-18 naval fighter jets there. Boeing's prerequisite was that the Indian Army must choose to buy the F/A-18 aircraft.

Under the framework of the new Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program, India has signed a contract to buy Rafale fighter jets from France. However, due to problems in contract negotiations and implementation deadlines, Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar announced that he would look for alternative options.

The Indian Air Force is in need of a major overhaul of its fighter fleet, most of which are more than 40 years old. New Delhi’s prerequisite is that the fighter jets chosen must be assembled locally.

The attraction of billion dollar contracts

After the contract to buy 126 new medium-range multi-role fighters with French manufacturer Dassault Aviation did not meet New Delhi's expectations, the opportunity for a multi-billion dollar military contract was opened up to a series of international contractors, the most active of which were American manufacturers Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

Currently, the Indian Air Force does not have much time left to find new fighter aircraft to replace the MiG-21, MiG-27 and Mirage-2000 units, most of which have reached the end of their life cycle and need urgent replacement.

F-16 fighter jet.

According to the Indian Ministry of Defense, the contract to replace the MMRCA will be for about 90 aircraft, including 54 single-seat versions and 36 two-seat versions. The contract also includes an option to buy 45 more aircraft in the future. In terms of value, the contract for 135 new aircraft will be worth no less than $12 billion.

In addition, winning the contract to supply new fighter aircraft in India also opens up opportunities to supply spare parts, logistics services, and upgrades for the winning aircraft units for many years to come.

This is a "fat bait" that any weapons contractor would covet.

However, it must also be clear that, in addition to the desire to own advanced fighter aircraft, New Delhi's firm request is to transfer technology and assemble most of the winning aircraft domestically.

This is a logical move for countries with lagging defense industries like India, which are willing to spend tens of billions of dollars on military contracts in exchange for access to advanced military technology and high-tech weapons manufacturing processes.

At the same time, major arms contractors also need “deep-pocketed partners” like India to maintain production and have financial resources to upgrade and develop new weapons. This also explains the “enthusiasm” of American manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

Can we avoid the MMRCA's "mistake"?

It should be emphasized that military engineering is a special field of technology, and to be able to absorb it, one needs to have a basic scientific foundation that reaches a certain threshold. If the basic scientific foundation is not sufficient to absorb the transferred modern technology, the country receiving the technology will not be able to absorb the technology to apply it to domestic military products, but will even become dependent on the technology of the exporting country. India has fallen into the above situation in the MMRCA contract with Dassault (France).

At MMRCA, the contract negotiations between India and Dassault have basically been completed. The only remaining issue between the two sides is France's refusal to issue quality control certificates for Rafale fighter jets assembled by India's partner, HAL.

The contract to supply Rafale aircraft under the MMRCA contract remains a lesson in hindsight.

The reason for this is simple! Aircraft are a combination of high technology and high sophistication, requiring strict quality control. Meanwhile, the Indian partner HAL is not capable enough to meet those standards.

If they deliberately ignore the above factors, will Lockheed Martin and Boeing accept that the F-16 or F/A-18 fighter jets assembled in India are unsafe during use, even though the products have been granted a "quality" factory certificate?

Although Tata Group does not have the same bad reputation as HAL for turning “healthy pigs into lame pigs” in the maintenance and repair of Indian fighter aircraft units, the Indian partner's capabilities are still a big question mark.

If the "above problem" has not been solved, will the billion-dollar contract in India be "delicious"?

According to qdnd.vn