Interview | Managing Director, Boeing Defence India, Surendra Ahuja

Boeing demonstrated the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter’s STOBAR (Short Take-off but Arrested Recovery) compatibility for the Indian Navy last year. Are you offering other advanced technologies?

Our successful ski-jump tests conducted last year, and extensive simulation studies prove that the F/A-18 can operate from the Indian Navy aircraft carriers and will meet or exceed the STOBAR performance requirements of the Indian Navy. Several innovative solutions related to carrier compatibility have been offered to the Indian Navy to integrate the Super Hornet with their carriers. Some of these solutions are currently being developed by our technology teams in our engineering and technology centre in Bangalore.

Boeing’s Block III F/A-18 Super Hornet offer to the Indian Navy is the most advanced, multi-role, frontline fighter of the US Navy, with a rapid technology insertion plan that will outpace threats for decades to come. This next-generation aircraft is ready to protect Indian armed forces from current and future threats.

Besides, the two-seater version of the Super Hornet is carrier compatible and allows the entire inventory (single as also the two seaters) to be available aboard the carrier during operations unlike other carrier borne fighters whose two-seater versions are availab