And a statement from French President Nicolas Sarkozy: The President of the French Republic has learned of India’s selection of the Rafale for the acquisition by the Indian Air Force of 126 fighter aircrafts. France is pleased with the Indian government’s decision to select the French aircraft to enter into exclusive negotiations with Dassault. This announcement comes at the end of a very high-level, fair and transparent competition involving two European finalists. The Rafale has been selected thanks to the aircraft’s competitive life-cycle costs, after the April 2011 pre-selection on the basis of its top-level operational performance. The negotiation of the contract will begin very soon and has the full support of the French authorities. It will include important technology transfers guaranteed by the French government. The realisation of the Rafale project will illustrate the depth and scale of the strategic partnership between France and India.
Photo / Vishal Jolapara
Aug 2011 to early Dec 2011 to by the end of Dec 2011, to within 3 weeks (Jan 21, 2012) to not before March…. Notice the wording, "NO DEAL BEFORE" in front of March… so technically the contract could not get signed for decades or even centuries. Guys, don't hold you breath on this. This will become an election issue and therefore expect this to be delayed until the new govt is formed or it may even get cancelled. What a joke this whole bidding and evaluation process has been. This once again proves that not only the Babus, but the IAF too is spine-less.
Great news!!!!! Thanks!!!!!
Once again Subramnyan swamy has been proved to be right.
On 29th April 2011(as per LF), Swamy has said that? Sonia Gandhi has rigged MMRCA deal for Dasault Rafael.and Sarcozi's wife Carla Bruny and Sonia's two sisters has played key role in this.
Up until 2 weeks back typhoon was on lead.typhoon is been operated by more than 5 countries where has Rafael was desperate to get this one and only bid in order to avoid foreclosure.
Typhoon had more strategic and technological value than Rafael.
once again corruption has back stabbed India.
SHAME SHAME
Greetings from Paris!
The fact that Rafale's first export order comes from a country like India that encounters true military challenges is the "cherry on the top of the cake". It tells more about the operational effectiveness of the plane than about it's "political convenience".
Congrats to India.
Grreat news!! finally the "true" multirole fighter for the IAF. Congrats to the IAF and Dasault!!
Grreat news!! finally the "true" multirole fighter for the IAF. Congrats to the IAF and Dasault!!
I just want to know one thing, even if Dassualt offers the technology transfer then also we may not be able to absorb the technology. HAL. is not BHEL. It is nothing but a third graded PSU. They will definitely mess it up. Govt. should consider PPP. model and can call TATA or L&T for help. They should start a new company with active participation from one Indian private company (say TATA, L&T or another equally good company) , Dassualt and HAL. Please make IAF. also a stake holder here. Ultimately they are the end user.
As per TOI. the price difference is only 5 million/aircraft. Rafael is cheaper of the two. But I personally feel that Typhoon should be asked to match the price of Rafael and if they agree then the order should go to Typhoon. Typhoon is a much better aircraft.
The typhoon would be a political hot potato since it is manufactured by EADS, which is a multi-nation consortium. Rafale is a much more simple affair. And all the whiners need to realize that of the two that qualified in the technical bid the Rafale won since it was L1.
Typhoon was on the lead only in Typhoon's propaganda. Rafale is cheaper and better this is the reality.
TOT is tempting
If we Indian's have not been dumb asses we wouldn't have been to buy anything from others or through TOT. TOT is nothing but saying we haven't got brains. Anyways we need to protect our selves through some sort. Am happy we have Rafale.
If Typhoon(UK, Germany, Spain, Italy) was chosen, then someone would have mentioned that Sonia got kickbacks from Italy and that she is working from Italy.
If Rafale is chosen, then some other story…. Bruni….etc…
Who knows the truth? The two fighters are evenly matched and the difference is not like the difference between JF-17 and F-22 ( Obviously JF-17 is much much better 🙂 )
If a war starts "tomorrow", we have no Rafale, no Typhoon. Bird in hand, two in bush… something like that ….
Great decision. France always supported india while the brits always supported sanctions on india…. Rafale is true omni role fighter and it can also be used from aircraft carriers. France promised full TOT. It will be great help in Building LCA, AMCA, engines, radars etc etc. Rafale did more damage in libiyan war then euro fighter typhone. India can make germany happy by picking U-214 submarines. Brits already got the money of Hawks. Great decision by india.
I must say, judging from some of the comments above, the kind of people who visit Livefist are much more ignorant, unaware and naive than on most other Indian defense and military blogs / forums out there. IT IS A FACT, the Rafale is a much superior deal, both in terms of the kind of aircraft IAF wanted technologically as well as in value for money in terms of total cost of ownership plus for lots of other strategic reasons as well. We made the absolutely right choice, congratulations to IAF, Dassault, India and France.
Well done Indian Air Force and MOD. Rafale is not only the lowest bid, but also the best aircraft, and by far: see the groundbreaking achievements of the truly "omnirole" Rafale in Libya (first-in on day one with no SEAD cover, time-sensitive targeting using AREOS digital imaging recce pod, which allows near-real time on board or ground processing, 60km range multi-target HAMMER smart bomb, …).
In stark contrast, Eurofighter's multirole performance was a non-event, compensated solely by Eurofighter's formidable PR and spin.
I would be surprised if we don't hear more from the opposition, in the form of smear campaigns, political diversion, legal mud-raking or other under-the-belt tactics aimed at derailing the process. Time will tell.
Shiv,
Any info about what the BBC/ Reuters saying "defense ministry was now considering buying another 80 or so jets and could invite bidders excluded from the current process to take part." are they talking about the naval bid or is it for the air force???
It is a strategic move to go with one country than a loose confideration of 4 countries to make the Eurofighter. Only issue, that the Eurojet engine on the EF is far superior to the Snecma M55 engine on the Rafale.
Those People forget that Mirage 2000 has edge over F16 and French Raffle comes from same origin and same superiority. So, its not on plane its on pilot how he handles the plane
(if IAF pilot can perform good with mirage 2000) then its sure that Raffle will be good because no additional learning will come only to learn new things.
LCA can be also good choice with raffle fleet as we need to test and try our technology as well because f22 raptor took 22 years to get develop so lca is just 8 to 10 years of design still it has lot of room to evolve
There is no doubt Rafale is a good plane. By the time IAF inducts it into service, it will be facing China J20 in numbers while the Indo-Russian T50 is not due for nearly a decade after. Granted, France supports India, it is no secret that France also supports China. French IR sensor technology (aka MICA) has been transferred to China already. Besides, China air bases on the other side of the Himalaya are already fully upgraded with front line fighters. Can India win the next conflict with China, or will it be 1962 redux, that is my question. One can say that there will never be a future conflict between India and China. Really? Each year, the Indian plaque is sliding under the Asia plaque as the Himalaya moves inexorably towards the Indian ocean and no human technology will ever changes that.
The T50 or J20 can fly, but to be mature and fully usable,that would take 15-20 year,
the F35 is started since more than 10 years, because prototype stage, you must wait 10 more years. because so much technologies need design, developped,implemented,tested, reworked,money. In the best wold people say 10 year because cost, but in real world that take the double 20-25 year. actually, the f35 can t fly without test area, it get structural problem and so much bugs. the T50, J20, would be not better, Just see all problem you get with the Tejas. of course delay and money explode.
The MMRCA Rafale and the LCA Tejas will be relevant only upto a stage where the Advanced Medium Combat is not ready for serial production sometime in 2022 or thereafter. The IAF might not buy the Rafales beyond the stipulated number of 126. Same would be the case with the LCAs MK-1(40 in nos.) and MK-2(80-120 in nos.)Once the AMCA gets FOC by the early 2020s they would rather opt for home made 5th gen fighters to compensate the deficit rather than Rafales and LCAs.
The only thing I'm dissapointed about is that as usual HAL has been appointed the sole producer of the aircraft in India, like the cheap govt middleman it is.
It already has the Su-30, LCA, FGFA and various helicopter programmes to worry about and yet the Rafale deal has been handed over to their Bangalore facility that produces Su-30s. Mark my words, there is absolutely no way the MMRCA will arrive on time from HAL, just like everything else they do is delayed.
The GOI should have taken the opportunity to develop the private aerospace industry by letting the Tatas, Mahindra, L & T etc manufacture the Rafale in India.
Yes, I know the usual babu-worshippers here will be like 'Government babus are gods! The sky belongs to them! Only they have the divine power to build flying chariots!' More inept than HAL with its monopoly.
@Parathasarathi:
Few misconception i would like to clear:
1) HAL is a world class P.S.U. It has all the tech required to build an aircraft but the not the money. Here is were govt decisions come into picture. Aircraft development is an entire life cycle and requires high expenditure continuously but we go o buy ready made planes.
2) EF is not better than Rafale in tech. What Rafale can do today EF will be able to do at around 2015 if R&D is continued on it.
EF is not a good multirole fighter.
EF does not have EW suits like Rafale, the best being SPECTRA system which Rafale has.
EF has no Navy variant.
This is the best decision anybody in world can make. Go Antony!!!!!
@PatriotNP
Please keep politics aside, the deal is the best we can have. You should be ashamed of your self in making such comments. For the first time IAF is getting what it wants and people like you sitting at home ruin it.
We need weapons to defend ourselves not smart mouth people. Think about the pilots who fly the vintage Mig-21's we need a replacement quickly.
Also a very nice idea to include private cos specially TATA will be a very good idea since it already partners with Boeing in aerospace.