MRCA News & Discussions (V)

Which aircraft do you think has a better chance of winning MMRCA race NOW??

  • Eurofighter Typhoon

    Votes: 29 26.9%
  • Dassault Rafale

    Votes: 52 48.1%
  • Lockheed Martin F-16IN Super Viper

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

    Votes: 17 15.7%
  • Saab Gripen NG

    Votes: 7 6.5%
  • Mikoyan MiG-35

    Votes: 3 2.8%

  • Total voters
    108
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p2prada

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If the OEMs give an assurance we can have Snecma-GTRE engine on Rafale, EF-2000 or Gripen, then that OEM will have greater chances at winning the deal.
 

nrj

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India Visit Is To Promote Trade: U.S. Official



WASHINGTON - U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will head next week to India on a mission to turn warming political ties into business - especially, he hopes, in the lucrative area of fighter jets.


As part of President Obama's push to fuel U.S. growth through exports, Locke will spend six days in India accompanied by leaders of 24 U.S. companies, including major players in defense and nuclear power.

The trip - the first by a U.S. cabinet member to India since Obama's visit in November - comes shortly after the United States ended most restrictions on sensitive technology exports to New Delhi, meeting a key concern.

Locke said that the United States hoped to seize on the opening and convince India that U.S. businesses offered "a win-win opportunity" as the South Asian nation manages its rapid economic growth.


"Expanding our exports to India represents the kind of mutually beneficial trade that creates jobs in both India and the United States," Locke told reporters.

Locke said a "high-priority focus" would be to showcase fighter jets. India is looking to buy 126 multi-role aircraft to replenish its aging fleet in a deal likely worth at least $12 billion.


On Feb. 8, Locke will visit the Bangalore air show with executives from the Lockheed Martin Corp., which wants to sell its F-16IN Super Viper, and The Boeing Co., which is promoting its Super Hornet.


The other contenders in the deal are the Rafale from France's Dassault, the Gripen NG from Sweden's Saab, Russia's MiG-35 and the Eurofighter Typhoon from a European consortium.


Ashley Tellis, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, expected that Indian leaders will face intense canvassing from other countries on the aircraft deal.


"Getting a foothold in the burgeoning Indian defense market is seen to promise larger long-term payoffs" as India plans more military purchases in years to come, Tellis wrote in a recent study.


But Tellis urged India not to try to please others by dividing up the sale, saying it was in the air force's interest to have a unified fleet.


Locke said he expected deals during his visit but played down the chance of big-ticket announcements, saying he was looking toward long-term business.


While the nations have largely sorted out disputes over nuclear power and technology transfers, Indian business groups have been upset over last year's sharp hike in U.S. visa fees for many high-tech professionals.


Locke voiced willingness to address India's concerns. He said that Congress determined the new fee as a way to fund security on U.S. borders.


"I think it was unfortunate that that was the vehicle that was chosen to finance some of these measures for enhanced border security," Locke said. "We need to work with the Congress to find ways in which we can raise the same amount" of money, he said.


Locke said he would also renew the case for India to loosen rules on large retailers such as Wal-Mart Corp. Owners of India's ubiquitous small shops fear they will be put out of business if New Delhi eases requirements for foreign companies to partner with local firms.


Locke will get a taste of India's local businesses when he visits Mumbai, where he will meet with some of the legendary "tiffin-wallas" who wade through the metropolis' streets to deliver home-cooked meals.


Locke will be the first in a series of senior U.S. visitors to India. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano plan to head there in the coming months.


DefenseNews
 

Agantrope

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If the OEMs give an assurance we can have Snecma-GTRE engine on Rafale, EF-2000 or Gripen, then that OEM will have greater chances at winning the deal.
EF-2000 i dont think they will do so. Gripen chances are quite highly present. Rafale already they said it can be used with kaveri engine.
 

p2prada

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Is it a 1080p TV? Would love to watch a movie while flying. :p
 

SpArK

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black eagle

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Indian firm Maini Group to make components for Eurofighter Typhoon, Airbus planes

BANGALORE: In one of the largest aerospace outsourcing contracts awarded to a mid-tier Indian firm, Bangalore-based Maini Group has bagged a multi-million dollar contract from German engine maker MTU Aero-Engines to make components for Eurofighter Typhoon and Airbus planes.

The engineering group, best known as maker of Reva, the country's first ever electric passenger car, will develop engine components for multi-role combat aircraft Eurofighter Typhoon and next generation A380 and A320 planes of Airbus, the world's largest aircraft maker. The deal will be signed during the Bangalore Air Show (Aero India 2011) which takes off on 9th February.

"With the commercial aero-engine market expected to generate about $740 billion sales over the next 20 years, we are now looking forward to growing the relationship with MTU on a strategic level," said Naresh Palta, chief executive, Maini Aerospace. "The group will invest around $30-40 million in the next 4-5 years to scale up its infrastructure and capacity," said Palta, who was earlier an executive director at public sector major, Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL). Last year, the group bagged an outsourcing contract worth up to $10 million from Marshall Aerospace , subcontractors for Boeing , the world's largest aerospace company.

"The timing of Maini's transformation to Aerospace is right. It will take them another five years to actually see the results," says B Mahadevan, professor, production and operations management, at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B).

The contract work will be led by group companies Maini Precision Products (MPP), including its subsidiary company Maini Global Aerospace (MGA). The multi-year contract now positions the Mainis as strategic suppliers to the German major that has total revenues of $ 3.5 billion and partners with aero-engine manufacturers such as GE, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce to source aero-engine components.

"For them this is the India test, to see whether private industry in India can actually deliver as per the German standards," said Gautam Maini, managing director, Maini Precision, who led the aerospace foray for the group even as younger brother Chetan Maini made waves with Reva. "Aerospace is going to be a big market in 5-8 years. The business cycle ranges between 7 and 8 years. It was a quantum shift, something we had to believe for a long-term," says Maini.

Maini Aerospace , which got Snecma, a major French manufacturer of engines, as its first customer, has now developed more than 900 build-to-print parts in the past six years. These involve contracts from global customers such as Safran, BAE Systems , Eaton, Goodrich and Magellan Aerospace . It is also working with state-owned HAL to make components for various projects.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...typhoon-airbus-planes/articleshow/7440163.cms
 

thecoolone

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Ajai Shukla: MoD's offset farce - notes for the CAG

Defence Minister A K Antony's apparent probity is set to naught by his dismal lack of judgement. In a heated internal debate on offsets that has polarised his ministry, Antony has backed a group of bureaucrats who argue exactly what foreign arms vendors have lobbied for since offsets were instituted in 2005. They agree that India's nascent defence industry is incapable of executing the offset projects that would arise from our weapons purchases. Consequently, the 30 per cent plough back that foreign vendors were required to make into the Indian defence industry, on all contracts above Rs 300 crore, has now been permitted in civil aviation, internal security and aviation.

The foreign investment that offsets were to direct into the indigenous development and fabrication of high-tech radars, night-vision devices and missile seekers now seems headed for airliner seat upholstery and carpets; rubber panels for baggage claim conveyer belts; cabin crew training; and passenger management systems. All these are permissible under the MoD's "liberalised" offset policy, promulgated last month.
Murdering the offset policy has not satisfied global arms vendors; they want it killed with retrospective effect. Currently, offsets relating to tenders that predate the neutered offset policy of 2011 must still be discharged within the defence industry. These include the multi-billion offset liabilities connected with the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA); the C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft; and the P8I Poseidon multi-mission maritime aircraft (MMA). Now this coterie of MoD officials is pushing for the new policy to be applied with retrospective effect.

Also on their tables is another proposal that will delight foreign vendors: permitting transfer of technology (ToT) as an offset. This would be a true freebie, since India's leverage as a massive arms buyer can ensure that ToT forms part of any deal. Besides, as the MoD knows well, an arbitrary price can be placed on most technologies.

The blinding illogic of these MoD decisions will surely be investigated someday, with questions raised over motivations, just as the 2G telecom scam is being probed today. So let us document how the MoD votes on the dilution of offsets. Supporting foreign vendors, and pooh-poohing CII's and Ficci's documented insistence that Indian Defence Inc can absorb offsets in full, are the officials who spend the defence capital budget on overseas procurements: the defence secretary and his acquisitions chief. Backing them firmly is the Indian Air Force — the biggest buyer of foreign weaponry. This group regards offsets as an inconvenient obstacle to overseas procurement, a perspective shared and warmly encouraged by global arms vendors.

Opposing this coterie, and urging that offsets be implemented within the defence industry, is a group with professional stakes in building up the Indian defence industry. This includes the department of defence production, backed by the indigenisation-conscious Indian Navy that has traditionally built its ships in India. The army watches and waits, realising the benefits of indigenous industry.

Highlighting the impatience of the IAF and the acquisitions wing with offsets is the indefensible clearance, in violation of multiple MoD rules, of Lockheed Martin's $275 million offset proposal relating to its billion-dollar sale of C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. In what most investigators would consider a conspiracy, the IAF left out a C-130J training simulator from their list of requirements; well knowing that this would be required for mission training. Smartly exploiting that gap, Lockheed Martin offered, as an offset, a simulator at an exorbitantly inflated price. The acquisitions wing illegally granted them offset credit for doing so.

French company Thales is getting away with an equally farcical offset proposal relating to its supply of radars to the IAF. While sourcing the radar equipment from France, Thales is discharging its offset obligations by buying accommodation tents (including toilets, kitchens, air-conditioners and microwaves) from a Gurgaon-based company; and by purchasing motorcycles and vehicles for the radar crews. This is a travesty of what offsets were intended to be: a stimulant for domestic defence industry.

This is happening because Antony — normally an astute guardian of his reputation, but severely endangering it here — has failed to create within his ministry an organisation to evaluate and manage offsets. In the resulting vacuum, the acquisitions wing and the department of defence production have each tried to palm off to the other the responsibility for handling offsets. To bypass this passing-the-parcel within the ministry, Antony has been persuaded to pass on the parcel to civil aviation.

The logic at the heart of defence offsets is the use of buyers' leverage to arm-twist vendors into building up what they rightly see as potential competition. But despite their protests, commercial logic would bring the vendors in line. This newspaper has reported in detail how global arms vendors have, over years, systematically protested India's offset policy even while tying up local partnerships for implementing it. The MoD's offset dilution of 2011 is an appalling example of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Was this mere incompetence or a rigged game? Some day, not far away, an investigation will decide.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bajai-shuklab-mods-offset-farce-notes-forcag/424302/
 

Kunal Biswas

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A story on the Indian MMRCA competition, page 46:

What the Indian fighter pilots wants from the MMRCA competition is summarized well by Air Commo. Ramesh Phadke, a former fighter pilot who now advises a government-funded think tank, the Institute for Defense Studies & Analyses:

"A light, easily maneuverable, agile and relatively inexpensive fighter that delivers every time, generates high sortie rates and is easy to maintain and train on a day-to-day peacetime schedule."
http://gb.zinio.com/reader.jsp?o=int&pub=69582310&prev=sub&offer=274582255
 

Kunal Biswas

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Swedish Saab to open R&D unit in India

* To add 300 engineers over 5 years-CEO

* Is in race for $11-bln Indian fighter jet order

(Adds details, background)

BANGALORE, Feb 8 (R.e.u.t.e.r.s) - Swedish defence and aerospace

group Saab AB plans to open a research and

development centre in India "soon," as it looks to boost its

presence in one of the fastest growing aircraft markets, its

chief executive said on Tuesday.

The Swedish firm plans to add 300 engineers over five

years, Hakan Buskhe told a media briefing.


High spending on arms and a rapid increase in civil

transport in Asia's third-largest economy has lured global

players like Saab, Boeing and Airbus to India.

Last October, Airbus' chief executive Tom Enders said the

company plans to more than double its team at its India

engineering centre to 400 by 2013.
Saab have JV's with Indian companies already, such as TATA CS that worked on Gripen NG and Samtel for helicopter HUD's..

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/1-swedish-saab-open-r-d-unit-india-20110208-003123-034.html
 

black eagle

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US defence major sees India sealing $11 bn deal in 2011


US defense contractor Northrop Grumman expects India to seal a deal to spend $11 billion on new fighter jets by the end of this year, as it supplies fuselage and radars to manufacturers bidding for the order, an executive said on Monday. Asia's third-largest economy is looking to spend more than $30 billion over the next five years to modernise its armed forces, including $11 billion to buy 126 fighter jets. There has been a lot of speculation on when India will pick a bidder.

Northrop, the Pentagon's No. 3 supplier by sales, has also proposed selling early warning systems and unmanned planes to the Indian navy, G. Sharma, the head of Northrop's Indian arm, told reporters.

India is strengthening its naval presence to protect its maritime interest in the Indian Ocean and inducting dozens of new ships and fighter aircraft to counter other naval powers.

The country is looking to modernise its weapons systems after the 2008 Mumbai attacks revealed glaring loopholes in security.

http://www.google.com/url?ct=abg&q=http%3A//services.google.com/feedback/abg%3Furl%3Dhttp%3A//www.indianexpress.com/%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dca-pub-9517772455344405%26adU%3Dwww.JetAirways.com/Cheap_Tickets%26adT%3DJetAirways%25E2%2584%25A2%2BOfficial%2BSite%26adU%3DHDFC.HomeLoans.enhanz.in%26adT%3DHDFC%2BHome%2BLoans%26adU%3DXenonXT.TataMotors.com%26adT%3DThe%2BNew%2BTata%2BXenon%2BXT%26adU%3DMakeMyTrip.com/Cheap-Airfares%26adT%3DPune-Delhi%2BLow%2BAirfares%26done%3D1%26gl%3DINBoeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet, Dassault's Rafale, Lockheed Martin Corp's F-16, Russia's MiG-35 and Saab's JAS-39 Gripen are among those competing for India's fighter jets order.

Northrop is supplying parts to Boeing and Lockheed for the jets. India is a growing country, Sharma said. The defence outlays which are being projected are substantially higher than what they had. Seeing all this, no country can avoid India.

Northrop is in talks with Indian companies such as state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Bharat Electronics for sourcing equipment locally, which could be one of the factors that India would consider when picking a bidder, Sharma said.

In 2009, India introduced a new rule that made it mandatory for foreign defence firms to buy 30 per cent of equipment from local firms to boost the domestic defence sector, and is now looking to raise the figure to 70 percent within a decade.

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, visiting India this week, said on Monday he was concerned about the country's tariff and non-tarriff barriers, highlighting the hurdles in boosting bilateral trade despite the growing economic and security ties between the two countries.

Locke, who is leading Boeing, Lockheed and 22 other U.S. firms on a trade mission in India, last week said he would press the country to buy U.S. fighter jets and other advanced technology products.


http://www.indianexpress.com/news/us-defence-major-sees-india-sealing-11-bn-deal-in-2011/747143/0
 

thecoolone

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UK defence official says Eurofigther Typhoon is not expensive, IBN Live News

Bangalore, Feb 8 (PTI) A top UK defence official today dismissed suggestions that the offer of Eurofighter Typhoon, one of the contenders for the USD ten billion medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contract in India, is "overpriced". Responding to questions at a press conference here, Air Marshal Leeson, Chief of Material Air, Royal Air Force, said he did not support the view that the Typhoon offer was "expensive". If one assessed its capability, it's actually a cost-effective solution", he argued. "I don't accept that Eurofighter Typhoon is very expensive". He said Typhoon compares "extraordinarily well" vis-a-vis "through life costs". The four Eurofighter partner countries are Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain. Meanwhile, Richard Paniguian, Head of UK Trade & Investment's Defence and Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), said the UK's defence, science and technology laboratories were set for signing a "letter of arrangement" with India's Defence Research and Development Organisation. He termed this proposed agreement a "very important step in binding together our scientific and technology programmes". "In the UK, we want closer collaboration with India in science and technology", Paniguian added. British Minister for Defence Equipment Support and Technology, Peter Luff, is leading a large defence and business delegation to Aero India 2011 commencing here tomorrow. Close to 40 UK companies are expected to visit the five-day show. "Every UK company who has made this journey to Aero India is looking for the opportunity to build partnership with their counterparts here in India", Paniguian said.
 

Parthy

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p2prada

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I have a really hard time imagining that there won't be politics involved.
No harm in making a public speech is there?

IAF will be submitting 2 aircraft to MoD and MoD will make the final decision...or so the news goes. So, obviously political inclination will be part of the deal. But MoD won't restrict IAF at it's initial choice.
 

slenke

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No harm in making a public speech is there?

IAF will be submitting 2 aircraft to MoD and MoD will make the final decision...or so the news goes. So, obviously political inclination will be part of the deal. But MoD won't restrict IAF at it's initial choice.
Oh, I see. I guess the Minister of Finance will have some input as well then since he's the one with the bag of money?
 
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