Lockheed Martin unveils made-for-India F-16

Seeking to steal a march over the competition in a $10 billion deal to supply 126 fighter aircraft to the Indian Air Force...

Seeking to steal a march over the competition in a $10 billion deal to supply 126 fighter aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF), US aeronautical systems giant Lockheed Martin has unveiled an advanced version of the F-16 Fighting Falcon with ‘super cruise’ abilities and an advanced Active Electronic Scanned Array (AESA) radar.

While the super cruise function—the ability to supersonic speeds without using after burners, resulting in massive fuel savings and extended range—is currently only operational in fifth generation fighters like the F-22 ‘Raptor’ and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the path breaking AESA radar gives the F-16 the capability to engage multiple ground and air targets simultaneously.

The F-16 IN, as the specially configured export version of the F-16 is known as, will have the Northrop Grumman AESA radar and upgraded engines to give it super cruise abilities, top Lockheed Martin officials confirmed. “The radar has been fixed on the Block 60 F-16s being manufactured for UAE and we are confident that a green signal would be given for installation of such radars in the case of export to India also,” a company spokesperson said.

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Unveiling the India specific F-16 IN, the spokesperson said the fighter would also be equipped with a special aerodynamic package, an internal counter electronics warfare system and infra-red search and tracking pods. “The F-16 IN is a completely new aircraft and is the most modern F-16 in the world. There is no comparison with the (older) Block 50 and 60 fighters being made for other countries,” he said. Pakistan currently operates the older Block 50/52 F-16’s.

The technical round of the international tenders for the deal is set to kick off on March 2 and besides the Fighting Falcon, contenders like the Eurofighter, Gripen (Sweden), Rafale (France), MIG 35 (Russia) and F/A 18 (USA) are expected to specify their final versions for the competition.