Winning the Rafale!
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In the fallout of the Rafale deal, can the Indian naval air arm be saved? More to the point, could French-built Rafale fighters still, eventually, fly from Indian aircraft carriers?
As the Diplomat has detailed, one of the fruits of India’s relationship with the United States should be the EMALS catapult system. Catapult launched (CATOBAR) aircraft differ from their conventional and Short Take Off (STOBAR) cousins in several ways, primarily with respect to their ability to endure the stress involved in the catapult system. Although INS Vikramaditya currently operates MiG-29Ks from her STOBAR deck, no one has yet made clear which fighter will fly from India’s catapult-capable carriers.