With a wary eye on a future war against either China or Pakistan, India will soon issue tenders for an advanced fourth generation fighter jet to replace its large fleet of aging Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG fighters acquired from the defunct Soviet Union as far back as the 1980s.
India's new fighter program will replace jets in 11 Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter squadrons (one IAF squadron has 18 aircraft) whose MiG 21s and MiG 27s are slated for retirement over the next 10 years. IAF is facing a shortage of front line combat jets for its 34 operational fighter squadrons.
IAF says it needs at least 45 squadrons to take on either China or Pakistan, which are close allies with an anti-India military agenda. It plans to replace some 900 fighters, mostly Soviet made.
IAF this September signed contracts to buy 36 Dassault Rafale multi-role fighters from France's Dassault Aviation, ramping-up an arms race against Pakistan as the United States and China watch apprehensively from the sidelines. The Rafale won India's Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) competition against the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Saab JAS 39 Gripen.
The Rafales give India a weapon potent enough to carry on the fight against Pakistan's U.S.-made Lockheed Martin F-16 air superiority fighter jets and the PAC JF-17 Thunder multi-role fighters produced jointly by Pakistan and China.
India hopes the Rafales, which can carry nuclear weapons, can help address the military imbalance in its favor. Despite the acquisition of the French fighters, the IAF still needs more modern combat aircraft.
Indian media says that even at this early stage, two fighters might well be the finalists for IAF's search for a fourth generation ++ fighter.
The favorites are the Lockheed Martin F-16IN Block 70 /72 that will be produced exclusively for India and in India by Lockheed and the Saab JAS-39 Gripen that lost out to Rafale in the MRCA competition.
Lockheed has offered attractive incentives to India, saying it would move its F-16 manufacturing to India from Texas to produce the Indian F-16s. Lockheed claims the F-16IN will be the most sophisticated F-16 in the world.
"If it is single-engine fighter, there are mainly two: Lockheed Martin and Saab," said Muthumanikam Matheswaran, retired Indian Air Force Air Marshal.