IASNOVA
DASSAULT RAFALE
– The Dassault Rafale ( literally meaning “gust of wind”and “burst of fire” in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation.
– Equipped with a wide range of weapons, the Rafale is intended to perform air supremacy, interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions. The Rafale is referred to as an “omnirole” aircraft by Dassault.
– 4TH Generation fighter jet
– Introduced in 2001, the Rafale is being produced for both the French Air Force and for carrier-based operations in the French Navy. The Rafale has been marketed for export to several countries, and was selected for purchase by the Indian Air Force, the Egyptian Air Force, and the Qatar Air Force.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21
– The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union.
– It became the most-produced supersonic jet aircraft in aviation history, the most-produced combat aircraft since the Korean War and previously the longest production run of a combat aircraft (now exceeded by both the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon).
– India is the largest operator of MiG-21s.
– MiG-21 became the first supersonic fighter jet to enter service with the IAF.
– Mig 21 Bison– Modernized version being used by India.
– 2nd generation fighter jet
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon
– The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft.
– F-16 was the first fighter aircraft purpose-built to pull 9-g maneuvers and can reach a maximum speed of over Mach 2.
– The F-16 is the first production fighter aircraft intentionally designed to be slightly aerodynamically unstable, also known as “relaxed static stability” (RSS), to improve maneuverability.
– The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM is a modern American beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) capable of all-weather day-and-night operations- was fired by Pakistani F-16 on India in Feb,2019.
Sukhoi Su-30MKI
– The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russia’s Sukhoi and built under licence by India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF). A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it is a heavy, all-weather, long-range fighter.
– The aircraft is tailor-made for Indian specifications and integrates Indian systems and avionics as well as French and Israeli sub-systems.
– 3.5th generation fighter jet
– n 2004, India signed a deal with Russia to domestically produce the Novator K-100 missile, designed to shoot down airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) and C4ISTAR aircraft, for the Su-30MKI.
HAL Tejas
– The HAL Tejas is an Indian single-engine, multirole light fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. It came from the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, which began in the 1980s to replace India’s ageing MiG-21 fighters. In 2003, the LCA was officially named “Tejas”.
– It integrates technologies such as relaxed static stability, fly-by-wire flight control system, multi-mode radar, integrated digital avionics system and composite material structures.
– It is the smallest and lightest in its class of contemporary supersonic combat aircraft.
– The Tejas is the second supersonic fighter developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) after the HAL HF-24 Marut.
Other Important points-
Indian MRCA competition
– The Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition, also known as the MRCA tender, was a competition to supply 126 multi-role combat aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF).
– The contest featured six fighter aircraft:
- Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet – USA
- Dassault Rafale- France
- Eurofighter Typhoon -manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo – Europe
- Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon– USA
- Mikoyan MiG-35- Russia
- Saab JAS 39 Gripen- Sweden
What is Stealth Aircraft?
– Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared,visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, collectively known as stealth technology.
– Stealth is the combination of passive low observable (LO) features and active emitters such as low-probability-of-intercept radars, radios and laser designators.
– The U.S. is the only country to have used stealth aircraft in combat.
In service Stealth aircrafts-
United StatesB-2 Spirit – Northrop Grumman
United StatesF-22 Raptor – Lockheed Martin
United StatesF-35 Lightning II – Lockheed Martin
ChinaChengdu J-20 – Chengdu Aircraft Corporation
- India and Russia are jointly working on development of stealth aircraft technology.
