With the countdown already on for the entry into service of the home-built INS Vikrant aircraft carrier in August 2022, the Indian Navy will conduct flight trials of the Rafale-Maritime fighter at the INS Hansa test facility in Goa on January 6 onwards to determine the best fit warplane The new aircraft carrier with a displacement of 40 thousand tons. The carrier is now at the Cochin Shipyard and is currently undergoing extensive sea trials in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.
According to officials familiar with the matter, the Rafale-M will be heavily piloted at a facility simulating the 283-meter ski jump of an aircraft carrier at INS Hansa for about 12 days to assess whether the fighter jet is the right fit. The Rafale M fighter is the main weapon system of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and it also demonstrated its interoperability with US aircraft carriers in 2008.
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The Indian Navy is also planning to test the US F-18 Hornet fighter at the same facility apparently in March as an alternative option to the Rafale-M fighter. The US Navy's Boeing F-18 Carrier Strike Fighter is a proven multi-role fighter that has conducted strike operations since the 1991 Gulf War.
While the Indian Navy operates two squadrons of Russian-made MiG-29Ks aboard its only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, the Russian aircraft is facing problems with maintenance and availability of spare parts.
The indigenous LCA-M aircraft developed by India's DRDO is still in development stage and two single engine versions are being tested at INS Vikramaditya and Goa based test facility to provide inputs to the ultimate twin engine aircraft carrier fighter of the future. According to the Aviation Development Agency, the first flight test of the indigenous twin-engine fighter is expected before 2026 and for the Indian Navy before 2031.
While the decision on which fighter will win the tender will depend on flight trials, the fact is that the Rafale-M is lighter and smaller than the F-18 and has more offensive capabilities than its American counterpart in terms of long-range air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. . Naval aviation experts also say that it would require structural modifications to the IAC 1 to fit the F-18 in the elevator to move the fighter from the hangar to the flight deck due to its relatively larger airframe.
As IAC-1 is expected to be commissioned as INS Vikrant on 15 August 2022, the 75th year of India's independence, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there is a strong possibility that the Indian Navy will ask French aircraft manufacturers to lease four to five aircraft Rafale-M in 2022 until the aircraft carrier becomes operational. India already has a Rafale training facility at Ambala Air Base. Naval pilots will be trained at INS Hansa.