Indian Air Force buy 36 Rafales

[anonymous-user]

The ink is dry on the contract apparently though you can never be sure given the legal challenges that have dogged this acquisition programme but was this Eurofighters last export opportunity?

[mybrainhurts]

There's always North Korea.

[AndrewEH1]

Typhoons are proving to be very popular in the Gulf States...


...well maybe apart from Yemen.

[Wobbegong]

But I thought we had sent enough bribes foreign aid to ensure the Indian purchase of the Typhoon?

[HarryW]

Wobbegong said:

But I thought we had sent enough bribes foreign aid to ensure the Indian purchase of the Typhoon?

Dependent on what record you read we gave India up to £279m last year in aid. It's probably about time to rethink the plan me thinks....

[anonymous-user]

Not really surprising though is it? If you weren't a country linked to the aircraft there are plenty of other very capable types available for much less money.

[HarryW]

el stovey said:

Not really surprising though is it? If you weren't a country linked to the aircraft there are plenty of other very capable types available for much less money.

If it was money then they would have gone for F16's, the USG virtually gives those away.

[bobbylondonuk]

Indian airforce already have a few Mirage 2000. These 36 are just a top up. The big business we need to get is their major fleet replacement of all the old Migs.

There was a huge issue a decade back when they wanted the hawks for jet training. We refused them and they set out to build their own now.

Why we refused, I do not know. But we should have got our claws inside when we had the chance. They were also big fans of the harrier as part of their carrier fleet. We could have still made them, under license on the cheap. Lots of missed opportunities when it came to India.

Edited by bobbylondonuk on Friday 23 September 20:12

[Countdown]

I'd guess that it was due to the amount of technology transfer that Dassault were prepared to do compared to BAe

[Simpo Two]

HarryW said:

Dependent on what record you read we gave India up to £279m last year in aid. It's probably about time to rethink the plan me thinks....

I thought Cameron had stopped sending dole money to India 2-3 years ago because I recall the Indian PM said something like 'We didn't need it anyway'.

[HarryW]

Simpo Two said:

HarryW said:

Dependent on what record you read we gave India up to £279m last year in aid. It's probably about time to rethink the plan me thinks....

I thought Cameron had stopped sending dole money to India 2-3 years ago because I recall the Indian PM said something like 'We didn't need it anyway'.

Yes I recall that pledge made about 5 years ago and tbf they said by end of 2015. The £279m was reported in 2015 but on closer inspection was the total for 2014, we gave £259m in 2013 down from £420m in 2010. No figures are out for 2015 or 2016 but I expect them to be zero if CMD was to be believed....

[perdu]

HarryW said:

Simpo Two said:

HarryW said:

Dependent on what record you read we gave India up to £279m last year in aid. It's probably about time to rethink the plan me thinks....

I thought Cameron had stopped sending dole money to India 2-3 years ago because I recall the Indian PM said something like 'We didn't need it anyway'.

Yes I recall that pledge made about 5 years ago and tbf they said by end of 2015. The £279m was reported in 2015 but on closer inspection was the total for 2014, we gave £259m in 2013 down from £420m in 2010. No figures are out for 2015 or 2016 but I expect them to be zero if CMD was to be believed....

I know how bloody huge THAT if has to be

Cameron never did anything he promised, worse than me in the olden days when chatting up the ladies

Trust me that's bad, really bad

[saaby93]

https://defenseissues.wordpress.com/2015/11/01/das...

'Conclusion

In air-to-air combat, Rafale is a superior dogfighter while Typhoon is superior at beyond visual range interception. Typhoon’s superiority at BVR combat is somewhat negated by its lack of MICA-class IR BVRAAM.

Rafale is also superior air-to-ground platform, but both aircraft have superiority in certain weapons categories over each other, so either could be a better choice, depending on situation. Rafale however is a better choice for the most important air-to-ground mission – close air support, though it doesn’t come anywhere close to purpose-built aircraft such as A-10.'

A-10

[Countdown]

Rafale is also c.25% cheaper.

[Ceeejay]

bobbylondonuk said:

There was a huge issue a decade back when they wanted the hawks for jet training. We refused them and they set out to build their own now.

Why we refused, I do not know. But we should have got our claws inside when we had the chance. They were also big fans of the harrier as part of their carrier fleet. We could have still made them, under license on the cheap. Lots of missed opportunities when it came to India.

Edited by bobbylondonuk on Friday 23 September 20:12

All part of developing their own industry. BAE provided the first batch, built in the UK. Then the remaining aircraft are gradually developing from an "airfix kit" box of parts, assembled in India, through to detailed manufacture over time. Not sure there's any missed opportunities. BAE are deeply involved with HAL. The IAF/IN will have more Hawks than the RAF soon

http://www.baesystems.com/en/article/bae-systems-s...

[BlackLabel]

Egypt, Qatar and now India - Dassault seem to be doing a decent job at getting the Rafale out there.

[KieronGSi]

BlackLabel said:

Egypt, Qatar and now India - Dassault seem to be doing a decent job at getting the Rafale out there.

It's more likely that Dassualt are doing a good job of selling themselves, all those that are buying are already operating fighters from Dassault.