When asked about the future of Indian Carrier Aviation with regards to a tough ongoing competition between the Rafael M and the F18 Super Hornet fighter jet, Vice Admiral (VAdm) Vinod Pasricha (Retd) said that we are looking at both the fighters. At the same time, Rafale has been bought, we are looking at the F 18 as well.
At the moment, our new aircraft carrier (IAC-1) is doubtful to operate these aircraft as it was designed for MiG 29, which we are using with Russian technology for the arresting year. The ski jump is good to launch it, but for the arrester, it is difficult to say whether it will work or not, so once we decide which aircraft to go with, we should also ensure that the next carrier (Vishal, IAC-2), gets the required technology so that we can use these aircraft on that.