Boeing to send two F-18 Super Hornet fighters to India for consideration as main weapon on new aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. The warship is still called as indigenous aircraft carrier-1 (IAC-1) and will be commissioned in 2022.
Flight trials of the F-18 carrier capable fighter on the mockup 928 feet deck of India’s sole aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya are expected around May 21. This date may depend on the availability of mid-air refuelling tankers with Boeing to fly them to Goa.
The Indian Navy has plans to buy 26 Rafale-M fighters on a government-to-government basis. The IAC-1 or INS Vikrant is under exhaustive sea trials and will be in action later this year. It may be ready for trials by the end of this decade.
India needs a minimum of two aircraft carriers to project dominance in the Indo-Pacific. F-18 Super Hornet can fit into both elevators of IAC-1 with folded wings. Indian plan is to station one carrier group each on the western and eastern seaboard.
