India has at last issued its eagerly awaited request for proposals for a new fleet of 126 lightweight fighters, launching a battle between the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-16, RSK MiG-35 and Saab Gripen.

Weighing in at 211 pages, the long-delayed document was issued to potential bidders in New Delhi on 28 August, and outlines requirements in areas including technology transfer, licenced manufacturing and through-life support arrangements. Further details of the project, such as its delivery schedule, have not been publicly released by the Indian defence ministry.

India’s defence acquisition council in late June approved the medium multi-role combat aircraft RFP for release, but the latest development has nonetheless caught manufacturers by surprise. New Delhi’s expected $10.2 billion contest has been in the planning phase for the last few years, and several previous RFP release targets have passed without event. Bidders are to submit technical responses by 3 March 2008, and New Delhi will issue a shortlist after conducting extensive technical and field evaluations of the candidate aircraft.

Required to replace the Indian air force’s MiG-21 interceptors, the new multirole aircraft will operate beneath the service’s Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighters. Full details of the new requirement are expected to emerge within the next few days, but these are known to include an initial batch of 18 aircraft to be built abroad, with the remainder to be manufactured in partnership with India’s Hindustan Aeronautics as part of a 50% offset deal to be linked to the purchase.



Described by manufacturers as the key fighter contest for the next few years, the Indian requirement could yet take on even greater importance, with recent unconfirmed reports having suggested that lengthy delays to the MiG-21 replacement effort could lead New Delhi to eventually expand the size of its fleet to around 200 aircraft.

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moj tip je f 18

Stvarno će se načekati. Ako sve bude teklo po planu prvi seriski primjerci bi ušli u operativnu upotrebu za nekih 5 godina.

Ma to je cista formalnost,vec se sa sigurnoscu moze reci da ce Mig-35 biti pobednik.Objektivno gledano i najbolji je izbor za Indijce.

Polako ujkaalberte, ne prejudiciraj, još svašta može da se desi.

mislim da ce ipak biti ono iz poslednjeg pasusa ,tj da mig-21 nece biti zamenjen nego ce ih biti josh vishe 

A ja sam razumeo poslednju recenicu da misle kako ce povecati porudzbinu nove flote do oko 200 kom. zbog toga sto nemaju cime da zamene mig-21

loshe si razumeo indija je trebalo da "napravi" samo 125 mig-21 m-93 od stotina aparata ovog tipa koje je posedovala.sad je to povecano na 200 .

po novim informacijama cifra od 126 ide na cak 180-190 letelica... a moj favorit je gripen, i ubedjen sam da ce izabrati zapadni avion jer vec imaju tehnologiju za su-27/30, tako da verujem da ce sada izabrati zapadni avion kako bi imali uvid i u zapadnu!
uz sve to ovaj avion treba da popuni rupu do pocetka uvodjena LCA u operativnu upotrebu, i tu je jos jedna stvar koja daje prednost zapadnom avionu, jer je vec odrenjeno da ce u LCA ici americki motor! s obzirom na to ja sam prednost dao gripenu!

To je naucna fantastika dace Gripen pobediti na konkursu.
Mnogo je vazniji politicki faktor koji je kljucan u ovakvim poslovima nego performanse avijona.Pre par meseci  je vec doneta odluka pri susretu Putina sa najvaznijim predstavnicima Indije da je gotovo vec izvesno da ce Mig-35 biti pobednik.