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| Shiv Aroor before Rafale flight | Photo / Arpit Agarwal |
Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne, currently on a four-day official visit to France, will be spending time with the Rafale squadron at St Dizier “to get a first hand impression of the MMRCA selected by the IAF, as also to see Rafale’s production facilities at Mérignac”, the air force said in a statement today.
The first high level visit from India after a new government came to power in France, Air Chief Marshal Browne is scheduled to meet France’s new defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Édouard Guillaud,
Director-General of the French Defence Technology and Procurement Agency (DGA) Laurent Collet-Billon and Chief of Staff of the French Air Force General Jean-Paul Paloméros. He will also visit the air bases at Istres and Cognac. While in France, he will also meet members of the Mirage 2000 upgrade project management team.
Some movement regarding the Rafale deal. I hope we expedite the process of signing the deal.
rafale deal will be signed by upa only after 2014 elections if they hopefully win. If nda comes then the deal will be awarded to eurofighter and if third front wins then the entire mmrca deal will get scrapped.
India has a very sweet, stable and enduring diplomatic relationship with France since a long time. Further more france has a very good track record of supplying defence equipments to india. So scrapping the deal with france or even switching to the eurofighter controsium is very unlikely who ever the ruling party in india may be, but yes delays, long or short is inevitable due to the red tapism attitude of GOI.
GOI from their side shall expedite this project.
shiv you are sitting in the second cockpit .pls tell MOD not to accept any more anonymous letters from anons and from manipulating persons (MP) from parliaments….
I feel the Rafale deal must be scrapped as it is too expensive with rupee falling we cannot just afford it. It makes me very upset as they are asking 41 Million for upgrade of Mirage with body which is very old and a questionable engine that may not fly more than couple of years.I feel we should get out of the deal and develop LCA mark 2 to its full potential and mass produce it on a modern assembly line.
TIMBAKTOO
Hi
would love to read about your experience in the Rafale cockpit….
[email protected]: Here you go: http://livefist.blogspot.in/2011/02/first-hand-flying-dassault-rafale.html
Thanks for this post Shiv.
Anon @7.54am, the Rafale was chosen precisely because it offered the cheapest bid. So maybe you’re suggesting India abandons its decision to renew its air fleet altogether?
True, India is working on a 5th generation fighter with Russia but the modernization of the Indian army cannot rely on cooperation with Russia only. I think the choice of the Rafale reflects the country’s determination to maintain its autonomy in the area of defense. I recommend this article for further details: http://www.mestrategicperspectives.com/2012/04/28/the-decisive-parameters-in-the-latest-india-france-combat-aircraft-deal/