The ongoing flight trials will show the F-16IN Super Viper is the fighter for the IAF. It is the ultimate fighter in electronic warfare, ensuring success in every phase of the mission.

Of the many roles and missions the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF) must be capable of performing, a key function would be air-to-air combat. It must be able to defend itself during a mission or stand ready for an air defence alert launch. The air-toair combat capability required of the MMRCA, as spelt out by the IAF in the Request For Proposal, are formidable. The ongoing flight trials will show the F-16IN Super Viper is the fighter for the IAF. By way of technological edge, the F-16IN Super Viper is equipped with the Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, the most potent system available for export today.

It was inevitable that hunt for a counter to radar detection would ensue. Reduction in radar cross section (RCS) is the countermeasure to radar detection. RCS reduced aircraft may not be detected by radar until they are very close, so close that other means of detection are more effective. At these short ranges, the human eye still plays an important role and so fighter size and engine smoke must also be reduced to counter detection by sight. The F-16IN Super Viper has a small visual cross section and a single smokeless engine. With a small fighter, RCS reduction can be combined with reduced infrared and visual signatures, allowing manoeuvring past the normal visual scan of the enemy pilot’s eye to an unseen intercept, visual identification or offensive firing position. Nothing sends a message quite like pilots returning from airspace incursions with stories of your fighter “Just appearing from nowhere!”

Through the Korean War, the primary weapon of air combat fighter was the gun employed in a dogfight. With the advent of the self-guided air-to-air missile, many thought dog fighting was obsolete. History has shown first detection and firing of Beyond-Visual-Range missiles is one factor in air combat victory; but it is not a guarantee that dog fighting will not ensue. So the gun persists to this day as an element of dog fighting. But is that paradigm changing? The super-manoeuvrable, short range air-toair missile, aimed by pilot’s eye, is becoming reliable enough that it might replace the time-proven gun. Only recently have technological advances provided the solutions needed to make the helmet mounted cueing system required for the employment for these new all aspect short range missiles comfortable, accurate and reliable. The F-16IN Super Viper pilot uses the Helmet Mounted Cueing System which is light weight, comfortable and multi-role capable.

Real-Time Mission Planning Data

The F-16IN Super Viper embodies the ultimate in the evolution of communication and situational awareness using automatic establishment of all available data links and automatic data correlation. Mission planning data are fully integrated with real-time on board and off-board data for fusion on the tactical situation awareness displays.

While dog fighting is less common in modern air combat, the need for the performance remains. Whether launching on an air defence alert, repositioning during a patrol, or manoeuvring for an intercept, fighter performance is a must. The F-16IN Super Viper has the agility that the F16 made famous. Even when carrying air-to-air weapons, conformal fuel tanks and empty centre-line fuel tank the F-16IN still has a 9g capability. The F-16IN has something even more—the fuel to support sustained high speed operations. It provides sustained supersonic speeds in level flight needed to cross long distances for a time-critical intercept.

In the end, the basic principles of air combat haven’t really changed that much. See the enemy first and fire on them still applies. But the F-16IN Super Viper pilot’s eye is now supplemented with a myriad of sensors in multiple spectrums. ‘Check your trim and ready your guns’ is now accomplished through the digital fly-by-wire flight controls, automatic integration of data and system level weapon management. Hand signals between pilots have been replaced by a network-centric situational awareness and multi-function radios.

The MMRCA must be able to provide effective air combat capability daily with a very high mission reliability rate over a long lifetime. The F-16IN Super Viper is that air combat fighter. There are years of real combat experience going into every system and subsystem. It is the Ultimate Fourth Generation Fighter—providing proven combat capability that the IAF can rely on.

Electronic Warfare System

In modern air warfare, fighter combat is a high speed, three dimensional chess game with multiple players and little time to calculate your next move. Sophisticated weapon systems operating sensors across the frequency spectrum populate the game. Providing information on what is a threat, and what is not—hiding you, shielding you—is the electronic warfare system. It alerts you to the threat, keeps it in check, and guides your next move. In modern air combat, you cannot win without it.

The digital multispectral, re-programmable advanced Electronic Warfare System (EWS) of the F-16IN Super Viper is all about winning. From electronic intelligence gathering to safe penetration of an air defence system, fending off threats during weapon delivery, providing a safe egress and post-mission Electronic Order of Battle (EOB) assessment, the F-16IN EWS is custom designed to meet and exceed the MMRCA requirements of the IAF. It is the ultimate fighter in electronic warfare, ensuring success in every phase of the mission.