VIDEO: Carrier-borne F-35C Lightning-II Makes First Flight

The aircraft that the Indian Navy is interested in!

16 thoughts on “VIDEO: Carrier-borne F-35C Lightning-II Makes First Flight”

  1. And I thought Indian Navy and IAF cannot see beyond Mig -29s , Mig-35s and Pak-fAs.

    I dont think US will let India have such an aircraft in its inventory. With French , Israeli upgrades this can give a tough fight to F-22 itself

  2. I think there is vry little chance 4 da IN to get their hands on F35…..y do they need them neway they hav already orderd many mig 29K's and N-LCA….though a carrier borne stealth fighter wud b gr8….but wud dey have any space left 4 dese on their aircraft carriers????

  3. I think there is vry little chance 4 da IN to get their hands on F35…..y do they need them neway they hav already orderd many mig 29K's and N-LCA….though a carrier borne stealth fighter wud b gr8….but wud dey have any space left 4 dese on their aircraft carriers????

  4. F-35 will require a whole new logistics chain, and completely change the way the IN trains and fights, making it unlike anything it is today.

  5. The Mig-29 will be used for the Vik and one of the ADS. F-35C, may be intended for the later carriers. Remember, it will take years to negotiate a contract and a few more for the first delivery. By then all Mig-29 would be in service on the existing ships, the third or fourth carrier that will be inducted would probably need something that is a little more advanced than the 29s. This does not mean that a locally produced fighter cannot be used on future ships…. this may be just one of the options that Navy have expressed some interest in.

  6. The IN has announced it will buy carrier borne AEW, which else could it be but the E2C Hawkeye? This is way beyond anything any Navy has but for the USN. Also the LCA is going to be stationed in AFS Sulur maing it the first AFS in the South to hast an attack-interceptor squadron.

  7. the indian navy should take the f 35B rather as it is a STOVL which can replace the older harriers used by the navy

  8. Shiv,
    THe F35C needs catapults in order to be launched from an aircraft carrier. The aircraft the Indian Navy is interested in would be the F35B Short Take Off and Vertical Landing one which the US Marines, Royal Navy and Royal Airforce have ordered.

  9. Frankly I believe the Indian Navy made a mistake in going for Russian STOBAR-type carriers and MiG-29K instead of following the route of the British from whom we acquired Vikrant and Viraat. i.e. They should have build STOVL(Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing) carriers and operated the F-35B STOVL fighters. Not only would it have been a generation ahead of the MiG but it would also have been less fussy to operate(no ski jumps or arrested landing systems).

    Hopefully if the Naval LCA program gets too delayed the IN cancels it(Why not? Without a single prototype built it's little more than a feasibility study like the Swedes did for the proposed Naval Gripen. Except France even all the European countries are buying F-35s for their navies, no shame in us doing so.) and orders 30-40 F-35Bs to replace the Sea Harriers.

  10. @gautam : Except that the F35B wont be operational for another 5 years and we dont even know if its worth spending the money,MIG 29 on the other hand has shown its battle worthiness to us!

    so use ur brain a bit before sucking up to uncle sam!

  11. So suggesting an American-origin weapon system automatically constitutes 'sucking up to uncle sam'?

    Rituraj, please pull your head out of that hole. I'm sure even you know(even if you ignore it) that a fighter developed in a $300 billion program by firms with decades of experience in every kind of military aircraft will emerge a winner eventually. With the number of countries(including the Europeans who are currently trying to sell fighters to us) who've put their future hopes on the F-35 there's no chance of it being 'not worth spending money on'.

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