IAF readies evaluation reports of MMRCA fighters

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force's marathon attempt to secure a medium range multi-role combat aircraft, with which to replace a rapidly ageing fleet of Soviet-era MiG fighters, has crossed another milestone with technical evaluation reports from field trials of competing aircraft now being readied for consideration.

Reports quote defence ministry sources as saying that these evaluation reports, prepared after gruelling field trials of six competing fighters of different manufacturers, was ''virtually ready'' now. The fighters in contention were tested by IAF pilots both in India and abroad under different weather conditions. While flight characteristics were tested in India, weapon systems were tested in home countries of different fighters.

The six competing fighter platforms are Boeing's F/A-18 'Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin's F-16 'Falcon', the Saab Gripen, D'assault's Rafale, the MiG-35 (Russia's United Aircraft Corporation) and the Eurofighter Typhoon (a consortium of British, German, Spanish and Italian companies).

''IAF is likely to submit the exhaustive report by next week. Subsequently, a shortlist of the fighters which have done well in the field evaluation test and the staff evaluation will be made,'' said a source.

The commercial bids submitted by the six manufacturers will be opened, examined and compared only after that.

For the first time ''life-cycle costs'' will be taken into account by the Indian Air Force rather than opting for just the lowest bid.