India Seeks New Tankers for a Third Time
by Neelam Mathews - January 31, 2018, 8:21 AM An artist's impression of an A330MRTT refueling two Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 fighters. India has again released a request for information (RFI) for in-flight refueling aircraft, according to The Economic Times . However, no RFI has yet appeared on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) website. The MoD previously conducted two rounds of bidding for a new tanker and selected the Airbus A330MRTT in preference to the Ilyushin Il-78. But no contract was concluded. AIN has learned that this latest move is of the utmost importance to the Indian Air Force (IAF). Nearly half of the six IL-78 tankers that are already in service are grounded, awaiting upgrades to their PS-90 engines. The IAF urgently needs more tankers to support the deployment of fighters to the Chinese border area, following the recent heightened tensions. Commercial satellite imagery shows Indian Sukhoi Su-3...