DELHI. July 16 (Interfax-AVN) - The Indian Air Force has wrapped up trials of multi-role fighter jets participating in a tender that was announced by the Indian Defense Ministry in August 2007.
At the end of July, all of the technical data and a detailed report will be forwarded to India's Defense Ministry, which will then announce the winner, Indian Air Force Commander Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik told journalists on Friday.
All of the aforementioned trials were conducted very thoroughly, fairly and professionally, he said.
Under the terms of the tender, the Indian Air Force will purchase 18 ready to fly fighter jets from the winner, while 108 more airplanes will be manufactured at enterprises of India's HAL state corporation under license as part of a technology transfer deal.
The Indian Air Force would like to start to use the first batch of these planes in 2012-2015.
The participants in the Indian tender include Russia's MiG-35 fifth-generation multi-role fighter jet, the Dassault Rafale 4th-generation fighter jet designed and built by France's Dassault Aviation, the F-16 by U.S. Lockheed Martin, Boeing's F-18 Super Hornet, the Gripen fourth-generation multi-role fighter jet manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab, as well as the Eurofighter Typhoon multi-role aircraft designed and built by the EADS consortium, which incorporates aircraft makers from the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy.