MRCA News & Discussions (V)

[Maninder Bhinder]

Will joint FGFA <with Russia > have any inclination towards MIG-35?

 

[Kunal Biswas]

I was hoping for some news.. But certainly not THIS :

It's a thumping irony. On the one hand, you have this overwhelming sense -- yoked along by literally unanimous Indian press leaks -- that the Eurofighter Typhoon leads the pack in India's $12-billion MMRCA fighter aircraft competition. On the other hand -- and you couldn't have missed them -- reports in the British press mercilessly pillorying the airplane programme. A brilliant headline in The Register goes "RAF Eurofighters Make Devastating Attack - on Parliament".

I don't think it is remotely far-fetched or cynical to suggest that the application of the Eurofighter over Libya (or for that matter, the Rafale), and the carefully calculated release of information about its achievements, has as much, if not more, to do with proving a point to its customers, both current and potential, as it does supporting operational alliance commitments (it was only last week that the Typhoon, previously confined to air-to-air operations over Libya, joined RAF Tornados for air interdiction duties).

The Typhoon programme, rather like the Tejas programme here in India, is and has been a deeply polarizing programme, buffeted for years in equal measure by staunch supporters and ruthless detractors. Operations in Libya only happened to cast into stark relief the findings of two reports, one by the British Parliamentary Accounts Committee, and an earlier one by the National Audit Office. Supporters call it a modern, multirole jet that's easy to maintain, has a low logistics footprint, and is one bad-ass in the sky. Critics say it's an expensive, hard to support air superiority fighter with manoeuverability that nobody needs in a BVR paradigm anyway.

Eurofighter hates the "ground attack" debate. And why not? It remembers how Singapore, which had shown healthy interest in the Typhoon in 2005, bailed and ordered Boeing f-15s instead. All because of questions that swirled incessantly around the Typhoon's efficacy as a strike platform. In 2008, the RAF got one of its Typhoons to light up a tent full of British defence journalists with its laser pod in a decidedly dramatic PR exercise to reassure the press about the aircraft's precision strike abilities.

But that apart, here's what reports, especially the recent ones, suggest: despite all the increments, the Eurofighter does not have mature ground attack capabilities. It's current strike ability is via a LITENING laser designator pod, and its last capability increment was the addition of EGBU-16 bomb avionic release capability. Finally, it will only truly emerge as a full-blown fighter-bomber at some future point this decade. That's the drift.

As far as the Indian fighter competition is concerned, the Eurofighter was put through weapons trials both in Germany and the UK. While EADS obviously won't discuss the details of the trials, Eurofighter boss Bernhard Gerwert says, "Eurofighter Typhoons delivered to the IAF will be the latest Tranche 3 aircraft with state-of-the-art electronic warfare sensors and communication systems. With its proven multi-role combat capability, this aircraft will provide the IAF with unrivalled air superiority and with sophisticated ground attack capabilities."

So where do things stand? What did the Eurofighter demonstrate to the Indian FET team? Did strike trials meet requirements? Obviously, these questions are strictly in the context of what we've been hearing in the last few weeks. I'll update this post once I hear from the folks at EF. As always, let me know what you think.

http://livefist.blogspot.com/

 

[Godless-Kafir]

Things seem to be looking more and more the Rafael way and that is a good thing. The French offer the best deal so far and they can help the Kaveri Engine back on track and thats what i want, unless and untill the EF people offer 100% tech transfer it wont be worth it from now on. Migs, F-16, F-18 are all out of the way already the Mig did not even attend the Air Show the Gripe is to LCAish. So its Rafel it is?

 

[neo29]

MAG REPORT: The MMRCA And The Indian Navy

http://livefist.blogspot.com/2011/04/mag-report-mmrca-and-indian-navy.html

 

[SHASH2K2]

MMRCA vendors to resubmit offset plans by next week​

Less than a month before the expiry of the commercial bids for the Indian Air Force (IAF) order for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), the Ministry of Defense has asked the six vendors to resubmit their proposals for technical offsets. Earlier this week, the ministry sent letters to the MMRCA-6, asking them to send in their revised bids within ten days.

The terms of the estimated USD 10 billion-tender mandate the winning vendor to plow back 50 per cent of the value of the order into India. The vendors had submitted their original offset proposals in July 2008, but it was only last year, after the IAF submitted its report on the flight evaluation of the six aircraft, that the ministry began work on the offset evaluation in earnest. It found the offset proposals submitted by all six vendors to be unsatisfactory and after repeated rescheduling of deadlines for the submission of revised offset proposals, has finally asked the vendors to send in their plans by the middle of next week.

The ministry had earlier initiated moves to amend the Defense Procurement Procedure (DPP) to be able to invite and consider offset proposals from only vendors that had first been declared technically qualified and was also planning to seek approval from the Law Ministry to apply this amendment with retrospective effect, specifically with an eye on the MMRCA tender process.

While the fate of this proposed work-around is unclear, the current urgency seems to stem from the looming deadline of April 28, when the commercial bids submitted by the vendors are due to expire. The IAF has also been putting pressure on the ministry to bring the tender to its logical conclusion. Also noteworthy is the readiness of the ministry to take on the challenge of completing the formidable task of evaluation and validation of the offset proposals in the two weeks after the deadline for resubmission and before the expiry of the commercials bids, something which it has not accomplished in almost three years.

And though the likely response of the ministry in the event of the inability of one or more vendors to submit their revised proposals by next week is open to question, chances are that this would lead the ministry to request the vendors for an extension of the validity of their commercial bids.

The MMRCA-6 were asked to either extend the validity of their bids or resubmit revised bids, after they expired last year. While the vendors were given around six-weeks' notice in that instance, this time around there has been no word so far, even though the remaining shelf-life of the commercial bids has dwindled to only three-weeks now.

Also, indications are that if these three weeks do expire without the seals on the commercial bids being broken, unlike last year, vendors may be asked to merely extend the validity of their existing bids, without the option of revising them. The ministry is likely to mandate this if it considers the prospect of any last-minute undercutting of prices by the MMRCA-6 to be undesirable.

While the offset proposals do not have a direct bearing on the determination of either the shortlist or the L1 vendor (Lowest bidding technically qualified), such proposals that are validated by the ministry as compliant are a necessary condition for the completion of the tender process by each vendor and, in effect, for being considered for the shortlist, assuming technical compliance.

The six vendors are the Russian MiG-35, the French Dassault's Rafale, the European Eurofighter Typhoon, the Swedish SAAB's Gripen, Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin's F-16.

 

[sesha_maruthi27]

When is this deal going to be finalised. I hope it will not be too late. The MoD should decide it sooner than later.

 

[icecoolben]

If I say India has finalised or going to finalise mmrca within april as per p.v naik said, then I'm again making a "april fool" out of u guys, just like naik did. If they are intent on quick procurement, then they should select the rafales, make fast track procurement of planes meant for french air force without aesa if need be, once the Indian specific models are built , france can take her air force specific rafales. By 2018, tejas mk-2 will be ready anyway to replace mig-21 bison anyway. We don't need mmrca production to be too high, hence decelerated and bought to a grinding halt wen amca is to hit production lines. If they are going to take one more year for mmrca, its better just to comission 60 more mk-1 to be built to be bridged by mk-2.
In my view, there's no tactical requirement called mmrca. Its just another scam caused by insecurity among the pro-western section among our defence services towards reliance on Russia or indigenous capabilities.

 

[p2prada]

If I say India has finalised or going to finalise mmrca within april as per p.v naik said, then I'm again making a "april fool" out of u guys, just like naik did. If they are intent on quick procurement, then they should select the rafales, make fast track procurement of planes meant for french air force without aesa if need be, once the Indian specific models are built , france can take her air force specific rafales. By 2018, tejas mk-2 will be ready anyway to replace mig-21 bison anyway. We don't need mmrca production to be too high, hence decelerated and bought to a grinding halt wen amca is to hit production lines. If they are going to take one more year for mmrca, its better just to comission 60 more mk-1 to be built to be bridged by mk-2.
In my view, there's no tactical requirement called mmrca. Its just another scam caused by insecurity among the pro-western section among our defence services towards reliance on Russia or indigenous capabilities.

The fastest producers of the respective aircraft will be Lockheed followed by Boeing. Then come Dassault and Saab and finally Mig. Perhaps LM can deliver all 126 F-16s in just 4 years if they make 'em all by themselves.

I have a feeling the contract is going to either SH or Rafale. The only problem with SH is CISMOA.

 

[icecoolben]

Given the fact that our defence chiefs still do not endorse signing pacts of extraneous orgin. i would say the french have the chance. Only a brainless baboon would select eurofighter not withstanding the uk audit. Our cag may not be more kind on the buy either. sweden- 'tough luck' due to bofors fiasco and congress with handful of scams will not be inclined to add fodder to the opposition. But My official stand will always be with tejas-1 and 2.

 

[SHASH2K2]

Eurofighter consortium desperate to have India has a new Partner

Purchase of 126 fighter jet under MMRCA deal by Indian air force is very closely monitored by Eurofighter consortium, which desperately wants the deal to go through, Eurofighter consortium has already chucked out plans to make India Production base for Eurofighter aircrafts and also use local Public and Private sector industries to source spares supplies for its Consortium member air force and its export customers.
Consortium members are currently struggling to maintain proper supply of spares to the fleet of Eurofighter currently operated by their air force, Budget cuts in Royal air force has already forced them to delay upgrades to their earlier batches of the Eurofighter fleet which have limited Strike Capability. Consortium is struggling to upgrade older variants and higher operating cost and spares has been much criticised in their national media.
Experts have added in British media that "India's participation will help fund future upgrades to the aircraft and source spares at lower cost", Eurofighter consortium is ready to transfer high value defence R&D to India and wants to co-develop and co-produce future upgrades and enhancements, new sub-systems, software, etc.
HAL is already started recruiting engineers and support staff to enable them to start producing aircrafts after the winners are announced and key tools and technology are passed on to them for local production , Hal is already building the Production house which will manufacture this aircrafts under its complex in Bangalore. Under MMRCA Tender more than 20,000 high skilled jobs will be creat
​

 

[p2prada]

Wow. They will be made in Bangalore. Lot of fun things to see in a few years over my house.

 

[ganesh177]

Combat aircraft deal shortlist to be out soon

New Delhi: The race for the $10.6-billion contract for 126 medium multi role combat aircraft (MMRCA) is going to gain momentum with the names of the shortlisted candidates expected to be announced by the first week of May. This would follow the concretisation of offset policy by the government which will be released in the next week. The report of the technical evaluation tests of the six aircraft in fray was submitted to the defence ministry in July last year. However, since then the deal has made little progressed even as Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal PV Naik asserted in February that the deal should be finalized by September.
The ministry sources have told FE the deal is again gathering steam with a concrete offset policy to be in place by April end.
"The shortlisted candidates for the MMRCA deal would be announced by beginning of May," said a sourcefrom the ministry.
Following the announcement the commercial negotiations for the contract will begin.
The detailed policy is expected to concretise the opening of the civil aviation and internal security in more certain terms, so that there will be no room for confusion. The defence offsets policy is likely to bring in $10 billion during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2007-11).
"The changes are likely to provide invitations to offer offsets proposals to be issued to only those vendors who are validated as technically qualified by the respective service. The shortlisted vendor will be invited for opening of their respective commercial bids," a source said.
The ministry's Technical Oversight Committee (ToC) is currently looking at the offset proposals submitted by the contenders for the deal.
Currently, both technical and commercial offset proposals need to be submitted by all vendors competing in a tender. Under the current policy, ToE will examine technical offset proposals, and the commercial offset proposals — submitted as sealed proposals — will be opened only when the respective commercial offer for the vendor is opened.
According to sources, the changes are being designed to help the MMRCA tender process, which is governed by the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2006 and plans to seek a legal route for approval to implement the revision with retrospective effect.
Simultaneously, their proposals for transfer of technology, critical for the rapid development of an Indian capability to build advanced fighters, are also being examined.


http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Combat-aircraft-deal-shortlist-to-be-out-soon/780690/


I am tired of following mmrca now.

 

[Patriot]

Can The M-MRCA Be Completely Clean? No.

If the MMRCA competition was indeed the impulse, Defence Minister AK Antony's warning to the Indian Air Force yesterday, asking them to stay alert against "corrupt practices of vested interests in the garb of aggressive marketing", should have ideally been pointed to the Defence Ministry seeing that the IAF has no work left in the selection process. So if there's been any "corrupt practices" (obviously there's been a lot of aggressive marketing) as far as the IAF is concerned, it's done with. Finito.

Considering that that the six companies in the fray for the Indian fighter deal have all signed integrity pacts with the MoD, I thought it might be useful to list, only for the record, each firm's recent brush with skulduggery. Some of these cases had consequences, some of them remain unresolved, some linger as allegations. But they all point, almost unanimously, to the possibility (not certainty) that each one of the competing firms in the Indian M-MRCA competition, indulged in "corrupt practices in the garb of aggressive marketing" at some point or the other. Maybe in the M-MRCA, maybe not. Ok, let's begin, in alphabetical order, and let's remember that this is by no means an exhaustive list, nor does it indicate complicity/guilt in each case:

BOEING DEFENSE: 1. The infamous Darleen Druyun episode, in which the Pentagon bureaucrat helped Boeing during tanker lease negotiations, while getting the company to pony up a post-retirement job opportunity for her and her family. Boeing made her a veep. Both she and Boeing's then CFO Mike Sears served time in prison. 2. In 2002, Boeing was accused of paying Choi Kyu-sun, a former aide to South Korea's President Kim $12-million to ensure that the country ordered F-15s, which Seoul ultimately did.

DASSAULT AVIATION: In 2002, as part of the same deal mentioned above, Dassault stood accused of paying a South Korean air force colonel approximately $10,000 for information on the country's F-X fighter competition. The colonel was court martialled, and Dassault hightailed it from South Korea vowing never to do business with the country again.

EUROFIGHTER: 1. Allegations of corruption in a deal with Austria. 2. Allegations of slush fund bribery against BAE Systems in the sale of Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia as part of the Al-Salam deal. Compounded by the fact that the UK Serious Frauds Office (SFO) decided to call off investigations in the "wider public interest", so the truth may never be known.

LOCKHEED-MARTIN: 1. In 2009, Lockheed's India head reportedly bolted from the country after being found in possession of MMRCA documents that he shouldn't have had access to. Lockheed refuted all the allegations, though the issue wasn't followed up by the Indian MoD. There's a book (I''ve just ordered it) about Lockheed-Martin's practices.

SAAB: Saab has faced bribery/corruption charges in connection with the sale of Gripen fighter jets to South Africa, Hungary (through BAE Systems) and Czech Republic.

UAC / RAC-MiG: 1. Was embroiled in a bribery scandal in the supply of MiG-27 jets to the Sri Lankan Air Force in 2007. 2. Bribery scandal in the supply of eight MiG-29 jets to the Bangladesh Air Force in 1999.

This list is only illustrative. Enough has happened in the M-MRCA competition so far to suggest that it hasn't been completely kosher.

 

[Anshu Attri]

http://www.dassault-aviation.com/fileadmin/user_upload/redacteur/Defence/Rafale/Fox_Three_N_14_UK2.pdf

 

[sayareakd]

I think they will sell aircraft cheaply, but will sell BVR and other weapon even costlier then the price of the aircraft. I am sure they will find ways and means to loot us, all of them.

 

[Zebra]

Close


Bill Sweetman


Within a year, Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter team expects to make firm offers to its eight partner nations: the U.K., Italy, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Turkey. In exchange for a commitment by all eight to aircraft numbers and delivery dates, they will get a firm price, several years before that would normally be possible under U.S. procurement rules.


Commonality has diminished during the development of JSF. The F-35C has a takeoff weight of 70,000 lb.—almost as heavy as an F-14D—and a 668-sq.-ft. wing.Credit: LOCKHEED MARTIN CONCEPT

The move is necessary because competitors are offering fixed prices, and because some partners need many of their aircraft from early production batches, which normally carry a high price.

Those commitments will be backed up by sanctions. "Partners who do not buy according to the program of record will cover the costs incurred by other partners," says the Program Office director, Maj. Gen. Charles Davis.

Davis says the final price is the subject of intense discussions within the team, but numbers in the $58-63-million realm—flyaway prices in current dollars—have been mentioned. Given that total acquisition unit costs in export sales tend to be about twice the flyaway cost, this places the JSF unit cost close to that of Typhoon.

The partners should be clear about what they are getting for the money. At the inception of the JSF program, in 1995, then-project director George Muellner described the aircraft as "70% air-to-ground, 30% air-to-air."

The F-35 is not optimized for air-to-air combat. JSF is neither fast nor agile enough to choose whether to shoot or scoot against an adversary like the Su-30. It either carries a maximum of four AIM-120 missiles—the capability is little publicized, although Davis confirms that it will be part of the systems development and demonstration program—or operates with compromised stealth. (A reduced-signature pylon for the outboard wing stations, designed to carry AIM-9X or Asraam missiles, is being developed.) Success in air combat depends on stealth, but although the F-35 should detect targets at long range before being detected, it will have to close to shorter distances to achieve an acceptable kill probability with the AIM-120C7, particularly against an agile target using jamming and decoys. The U.S. acknowledged this by developing the AIM-120D, designed to be compatible with new active electronically scanned array radars, but it will not be available for export in the foreseeable future.

Moreover, there is no longer any serious doubt that not all F-35s will be equal in stealth. Asked earlier this year to confirm that all would have the same signatures, George Standridge, Lockheed Martin's vice president for business development, responded: "That is a matter for the U.S. government. I cannot and will not answer that question."

The partner countries so far show signs of being able to live with the aircraft's performance and the stealth capabilities they have been offered. The main exceptions are the U.K. and Italy, which will use the Typhoon as their primary air-to-air fighter.

Another major advantage of the JSF is the potential for spreading through-life upgrade and support costs over a large fleet of aircraft. This depends, however, on keeping numbers at their planned level, including 730 aircraft for partner nations, which means overcoming three obstacles.

The first is direct competition. Norway and Denmark are evaluating the JSF against other aircraft, mainly Saab's Gripen Next Generation (NG). In May, the Netherlands government, under pressure from its Labor coalition partner, agreed to carry out a final assessment of other aircraft, including Gripen NG, Typhoon and Rafale, before making a commitment. Canada also intends to conduct a competition.

The second is budget concerns in the U.K. and Italy, where JSF procurement will be weighed against the final batch of Typhoon fighters unless money can be found for both types.


Doors, serrated and edge-treated to maintain stealth, open so the F-35B's powered lift system can operate.Credit: LOCKHEED MARTIN

Third, U.S. numbers are shaky. Senior Air Force officers have stated that the service can afford only 48 JSFs per year rather than the 80 that the current program envisions, unless it gets more topline funding in the defense budget. The Navy and Marine Corps told the Government Accountability Office that they expect to buy 35 JSFs per year, versus 50 in the current plan. Davis says the JSF office "is waiting for the POM (program objective memorandum) process to see those numbers get adjusted."

Technical risk is another factor. Later this year, the project office is expected to confirm a slip of 9-12 months in the completion of operational testing, with a consequent increase in development costs.

Davis minimizes its impact, saying it reflects the fact that early low-rate initial production (LRIP) batches have been reduced in size (12 aircraft on contract in 2008, for instance, versus 18 envisioned earlier), and observing that it is "at the discretion of the combatant commander" when to declare initial operational capability. Davis makes much of the flight of the first F-35B, on June 11, within the schedule planned in August 2006. "People said the program couldn't make it, but this shows that we're capable of performing to schedule."

More important, though, is the Stovl (short takeoff and vertical landing) testing of the F-35B, which is, by Davis's count, three months behind schedule. In the first quarter of 2009, the F-35B will start a series of 20 sorties at Fort Worth, Tex., in which the jet progressively slows down, leading to a slow landing. BF-1 will then be ferried to the Navy's flight-test center at Patuxent River, Md., for tests leading to a vertical landing. The time*scale for that is not certain, but a vertical landing doesn't look likely until well into the second quarter.

The U.K. has voiced concerns about vertical landings. Added to F-35B testing under a U.K. initiative is a new flight mode, shipboard rolling vertical landing (SRVL), in which the aircraft approaches the ship with about 60 kt. airspeed and 25 kt. wind-over-deck—the maximum design speed of the Royal Navy's new carriers (see story, p. 51)—for a 35-kt. relative deck speed. Davis characterizes SRVL as a means to improve hot-day performance. The U.K. National Audit Office, in a November 2007 report, linked the move to SRVL to "weight challenges and propulsion integration issues."

SRVL trials were carried out in May 2007, using the fly-by-wire Harrier operated by Qinetiq on the French carrier Charles de Gaulle. Challenges include the fact that the aircraft has to stop using wheelbrakes alone—37,000 lb. of aircraft at 35 kt. represents a lot of energy—on a deck that will likely be wet. A classic "bolter" will not be possible because power has to be reduced on touchdown to put the airplane's weight on its wheels.

Vertical landing tests depend on the successful resolution of problems with the low-pressure turbine of the F135 engine, whose unusually large blades are designed to deliver power to the lift fan. A number of changes have been implemented, and tests continue to pin down the exact combination of circumstances where failures occur.

Two milestones are coming up: further analysis should lead to a limited clearance of the existing engine for inflight vectoring in October; and a modified, fully cleared engine should be ready to fly by late 2008.

The other main challenge in the JSF program will be ramping-up LRIP. Davis told an Aviation Week conference in early 2008 that he was "worried about getting the manufacturing lines down the learning curves." Some problems stem from the weight-reduction redesign in 2004-05—the wing, for example, is harder than expected to assemble. These issues have to be sorted out by 2010: in 2011, production starts a steep acceleration, from 47 aircraft ordered in 2011 to 205 in 2014.

If the JSF program succeeds in locking up its international partners, the project could be within reach of its goal of an F-16-like, mid-four-digit production run and a near-monopoly of the fighter business outside Russia and China. The only other Western program with a long-term future will be whichever team wins India's 126-aircraft order. But if JSF falls short of its goals—as almost every major military aircraft program has in the past 25 years—it will throw the re-equipment plans of a dozen air arms into disarray.





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PLEASE READ THE LAST PARAGRAPH IN THIS ARTICLE .

 

[Patriot]

M-MRCA Commercial Bids Expire Tomorrow, What Now?

The sealed commercial bids of the six competitors in the Indian M-MRCA fighter competition expire tomorrow. I spoke to officials at the six competing companies said they hadn't heard from the government, and were clueless about what happened next. So in under 36 hours, one of the following should happen:

1. The government will in all likelihood asks the six vendors to extend the validity of their commercial bids (though it hasn't asked them at least until the time this post goes on). In the first week of April, the government asked the six vendors to submit revised technical offsets bids. Tomorrow at midnight, the bids expire. In the past, requests for extensions have been provided with fair advance notice. This time, it's 36 hours and the vendors still haven't heard from the government. Foreseeing this eventuality, the vendors have probably kept their paperwork ready for the validity extension. Either way, the government can always ask for the extension after the bids expire, so this deadline isn't really a DEAD-line. Phooey.

2. If procedure permits, the government only requests those found technically compliant to extend the validity of their commercial bids for onward negotiations, and allows the others' bids to expire. An implicit down-select if you will.

3. The government announces its legendary explicit down-select -- fat chance of that happening.

4. The government cancels the M-MRCA tender. Yeah, right

 

[Patriot]

The M-MRCA In Numbers

As the M-MRCA fighter competition winds down, I thought it would be nice to put it down in numbers. Do comment with your additions.

6: The number of contending aircraft.

8: The number of competing nations.

126: The number of aircraft the Indian government officially says it wants to buy.

200-220: The number that sundry analysts believe will be the the "real" order size.

$9,500,000,000: The number of dollars (at the current exchange rate) the Indian government has committed to the deal.

$4,750,000,000: The number of dollars (at the current exchange rate) the winning contender will need to plough back into India as offsets.

18: The number of aircraft that will be manufactured by the winning bidder.

108: The number of aircraft that will be cookie-cut under license by HAL at a spanking new facility.

0: What HAL has needed to do to be the license partner in the MMRCA.

3: The number of years it took the government to decide that a competition made more sense than an IAF-recommended purchase of more Mirage-2000s.

4: The number if IAF Air Marshals who openly rue that decision to this day.

4: The number of companies that received the Indian RFI in 2004 (Dassault, Lockheed-Martin, RAC-MiG, Saab).

2: The number of companies that elbowed their way into the competition shortly thereafter (Boeing, Eurofighter).

2 / 1 / 6 / 1 / 0 / 5: The number of air forces that use fly the F/A-18 Super Hornet / Rafale / Typhoon / F-16 Block 60 / MiG-35 / Gripen.

2: The number of contending aircraft with operational AESA radars.

4: The number of contending aircraft that promise to deliver AESA radars better than the American ones.

2: The number of vendors who explicitly state that they will release all avionics/sensor source codes to the IAF as part of any deal.

46: The number of times in 2006-07 that the then IAF chief Shashindra Pal Tyagi was quoted to have said "buying fighters is not like buying vegetables in a market".

242: The number of times Defence Minister AK Antony, in response to questions about the delayed RFP, nodded genially and said, "It is in process".

3: The number of years it took for the government to send out an RFP after receiving information about potential contenders.

211: The number of pages in the RFP that was released in August 2007.

4: The number of defence journalists who claimed to have a copy of the RFP on the day it was released.

0: The number of defence journalists who actually had a copy of the RFP on the day it was released.

(Still counting): The number of times sundry officials from the IAF and MoD have pointed to "front-runners" in the competition.

4: The number of times competing countries have urged abandonment of the tender in favour of a separate exclusive deal. (-- Saurabh Joshi)

10: The number (on a scale of ten) that depicts just how badly IAF chief Pradeep Naik wants the MMRCA contract to be signed before he retires in July this year.

0: The number (on a scale of ten) that depicts the chances of that actually happening.

0: The optimism co-efficient of vendors that the IAF chief's word holds any more sway.

<1: The chances on a scale of 10 of the deal being concluded this calendar year.

22: The number of times the current IAF chief has expressed his pride over the evaluation process, and said he will patent it.

186: The number of times this blog has posted about the competition. Ok, now 187.

~421: The number of misleading leaks, rumours and patent falsehoods that have been deliberately put out by certain officers in the IAF and MoD acquisition wing.

8: The number of times the IAF and MoD have contradicted each other over aspects of the selection process.

112: The number of times the European competitors have described the Americans as "aggressive".

643: The number of test points evaluated on the six aircaft during field trials.

2: The number of years it took for field trials to commence after RFPs had been issued.

7: The number of times Lockheed-Martin took pot shots at the Gripen.

7: The number of times Gripen took pot shots at Lockheed-Martin.

2: The number of fantasy eliminations - Gripen and Rafale - that turned out to be false.

1: The number of times commercial bids have been revised.

10: Chances on a scale of ten that commercial bids will be required to be extended.

11,441: The number of reports about the MMRCA in the mainstream Indian media.

11,441: The number of reports about the MMRCA in the mainstream Indian media that were based largely on speculation.

 

[thecoolone]

India selects EF, Rafale for MMRCA shortlist
April 27, 2011
By Saurabh Joshi

The Indian Ministry of Defense has issued letters, on Wednesday, to two of the six vendors competing in the estimated USD 10 billion Indian Air Force (IAF) tender for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), asking them to extend the validity of their commercial bids, which will expire on Thursday, tomorrow.

StratPost can confirm that the European Eurofighter Typhoon consortium and the French Dassault's Rafale have been invited to do so, effectively making up the shortlist.

StratPost can also confirm that according to the IAF and the ministry, the other aircraft in the fray, the US Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet, the US Lockheed Martin Corporation's F-16, the Russian MiG-35 and the Swedish SAAB's Gripen did not pass the technical evaluation conducted by the IAF.

It is noteworthy that this comes just a day before the commercial bids of all six vendors were to expire.

It would not be unsurprising if this move by the ministry and it's coincidentally sharp timing were to raise the hackles of the spurned vendors. Industry insiders are already expecting to see a robust response from these vendors and their countries of origin, at least in private, to this decision.

One question some of the vendors losing out are already asking is why the ministry asked all the vendors to resubmit their offset proposals early this month if they already knew the outcome of the technical evaluation submitted by the IAF last summer, and waited till a day before the expiry of the commercial bids to effectively announce a shortlist by inviting extension of commercial bids from only two vendors.

The commercial bids of the other four vendors will lapse on Thursday, tomorrow.

Something else the uninvited vendors are ready to question is the basis for judging technical compliance, with robust speculation that none of the MMRCA-6 aircraft were actually completely compliant with the IAF's 643 parameters listed in the Air Staff Qualitative Requirements (ASQRs) for the tender.

It seems clear that these issues will not be settled quickly. Watch out for more on this tonight, at StratPost.

http://www.stratpost.com/india-selects-ef-rafale-for-mmrca-shortlist

 

[thecoolone]

FLASH! Rafale & Typhoon Move To Next Level In M-MRCA, Others Out!

It's official! France's Dassault Aviation and the European consortium's Eurofighter Typhoon move to the next level on the IAF M-MRCA selection process. Both companies have confirmed that their programme teams have been asked to be at the MoD/Air HQ tomorrow for a meeting where the process will be taken forward. This is, in effect, the downselect that you've been hearing about so much. More shortly. It must be said that it was TimesNOW's Srinjoy Chowdhry who first reported that the Rafale and Typhoon led the competition.

http://livefist.blogspot.com/2011/04/flash-rafale-typhoon-move-to-next-level.html