Six Competitors for Indian Air Force 110 Fighter Jets Contract

The Indian Defense Ministry has received six bids for the Request for Information for the manufacture of 110 fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

The deadline for the RFI issued in April ended on 6 July. Lockheed Martin F-16, Saab Gripen, Boeing F-18, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Russian MiG-35 are the bidders, the Hindu quoted unnamed officials as saying Monday.

“The bids will be evaluated after which the IAF will issue the Request For Proposal (RFP) with the exact specifications of the aircraft to be procured. The RFP is expected by early next year,” an official source said.

According to the RFI, India intends to purchase a maximum of 15 percent of the total 110 fighters in fly away condition and manufacture the rest 85 percent under the Make in India program, the RFI issued on Friday read.

The MoD has specified that about 75 percent of the 110 aircraft will be single seat fighters while the rest will be twin seater aircraft.

The document also specified that the OEMs are requested to convey with clarity, their Transfer of Technology (ToT) offer for indigenous manufacture of the aircraft in India.

The total cost of the procurement could be between $15 billion to $20 billion dollars.