US F-18 Fighters To Be Tested For INS Vikrant Next Month: Report

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will commission the warship, still called as indigenous aircraft carrier-1 (IAC-1), on the 75th year of Indian independence on August 15 this year.

F-18 jets line the deck on board the US Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (Getty Image)

New Delhi: In what may further boost New Delhi’s defence prowess, US defence major Boeing will be sending two F-18 Super Hornet fighters to India next month.

The two F-18 Super Hornet fighters will be sent for the Indian Navy to conduct flight trials at INS Hansa’s shore-based test facility in Goa for consideration as the main weapon on India’s new aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, Hindustan Times reported.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will commission the warship, still called as indigenous aircraft carrier-1 (IAC-1), on the 75th year of Indian independence on August 15 this year.

The 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, Hindustan Times reported as per information from New Delhi and Washington.

The leading English daily in its report added this date may depend on the availability of mid-air refuelling tankers with Boeing to fly the F-18s to Goa.

This development comes as INS Vikramaditya is soon to be joining duties after more than a year-long overhaul and maintenance, while the IAC-1 or INS Vikrant is under exhaustive sea trials and will be in action later this year with MiG-29K fighters on board for the time being.

The other fighter considered for INS Vikrant and Vikramaditya is Rafale-M.

The Indian Navy, which tested Rafale-M at the same facility in Goa earlier in January this year with good results, has as of now plans to buy 26 fighters on a government-to-government basis as the ADA designed indigenous twin-engine deck-based fighter may be ready for trials by the end of this decade.

India now needs a minimum of two aircraft carriers to project dominance in the Indo-Pacific along with other QUAD partners.

The move assumes significance as China is building its third aircraft carrier indigenously.

In tune with the same, the Indian plan is to station one carrier group each on the western and eastern seaboard with forward deployment capability in Andamans and Nicobar Islands.

The highly capable and versatile F-18 Super Hornet can fit into both elevators of IAC-1 with folded wings.

A maximum of eight two-seater F-18 fighters are capable, according to the Hindustan Times report, of launching from the deck of both Vikrant or Vikramaditya unlike Rafale-M two-seaters, which can only operate from shore-based facility and thus losing one-third of its combat capacity.

This suggests that while F-18 twin-seater fighters can be launched from carrier deck during war, the twin-seater Rafale-M fighters can only be launched from the shore.

The F/A-18 Hornet can carry up to four anti-submarine missiles as compared to one by the Rafale-M fighter.