Know Your 'Rafale'

[Pandora]

 

[nitesh]

Hindu doing what it does best. An excellent editorial:

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Strategic lift in Rafale tailwind

This pretty well says why India is so comfortable with French, although we like to say all sort of things towards French, but this article pretty much concludes how French are closest allies after SU. I am little confused, why the Space field is not covered, lot of ISRO guys who are in senior positions now where trained in France as well as SU.

May be it will be early to say that the deal is closed, but I am sure that this deal closure and successful execution will lead to some interesting possibilities emerging in coming decades.

 

[Mad Indian]

Want to hear some more COLD war stuff

Since we were in the Soviet camp ;When our Newly bought Jaguars were coming to India after a refuelling halt in the Gulf
US planes based in the Gulf region were constantly tailing us just to SCARE the daylights out of our pilots
but our pilots just quitely continued their journey

And some more too pleaseeeeeeeeeee.......

 

[p2prada]

If you can re-engineer an F-15, you can do it to Rafale.

Lot of time and money. There won't be any point if France develops it and nobody buys it.

ausairpower.net published very worrying report about the weaknesses of F35 against the coming 4.5gen russian and chinese fighter. They traditionnaly are buying US assets, but in the present situation, they are really terrified by the lack of solution to keep a true airdominance in the 30 next years: if the F35 is sold, it will be a political choice, not a military one.

The Australia situation is exaggerated. F-35 is a great aircraft and will always have major advantages against 4th gen+ fighters.

Do not want to sound pedantic, but as a matter of accuracy the F-35B is meant to replace the USMC´s Hornet and Harrier II (AV-8B). The F-35A will replace the USAF´s flying Gatling gun aka A-10. Not a very sexy machine but bloody efficient for its specific dedicated role.

Yes that's right.

 

[Indianboy]

India as 'cricket and curries'? That won't help win a fighter jet bid

The right is outraged by India awarding a fighter jet contract to the French, but it is this arrogance that damages our relationship

Tristram Hunt
guardian.co.uk, Friday 3 February 2012 14.47 GMT
Article history

"What on earth do they know about cricket and curries," was the acerbic response of Tory MP Peter Bone to the news that the French firm Dassault has emerged as the lowest bidder for a $10bn (£6.3bn) contract to supply India jet fighters. And, in one crisp sentence, Bone encapsulated the problem: a lingering British attitude towards India enveloped in the language of colonialism and entitlement, which is buckling any attempt at a modern, co-operative relationship.

Of course, Bone is not the only one. This week the Sun newspaper has been running a campaign demanding Britain ends its aid programme. "Britain can no longer justify sending aid to India," it announced, since "this superpower in the making is treating us like mugs."

All of which led the BBC's Andrew Neil to ask why, if the French had no aid budget for India, it could be in pole position to supply India's air force, while the British Eurofighter bid had been left stranded despite us bunging billions towards New Delhi. Immediately, we were back to the 1980s: "aid for trade", Pergau Dam and Alan Clark signing it all off. Of course, there are all sorts of solid arguments for ending our aid to India, but failing to secure arms deals is not one of them.

Nevertheless, preferred bidder status for Dassault Aviation is a wretched blow for the British defence industry. It is also a humiliating rebuff to David Cameron's ambitions for "an enhanced strategic partnership" with India. Having condemned the previous Labour government for ignoring our relations with New Delhi, shortly after his election the prime minister packed an aeroplane with high-profile businessmen to secure new contracts from the rising Bric power.

There was even talk of having the ex-head of the Confederation of British Industry, Richard Lambert, take the British high commission job. This mercantilist Anglo-Indian strategy all formed part of the government's grander ambition to turn the Foreign and Commonwealth Office into a high-end sales outfit, with ambassadors acting out the role of regional reps.

But this week it came to naught.

Perhaps this is due to a new generation of politicians, policy-makers and businesspeople in Mumbai, Chennai, and Bangalore who can sense a British political class still stuck in the past. In London, there remains a world view that somehow Britain – because of a connection with India stretching back to the Fort St George in 1640s Madras or Job Charnock in 1690s Lal Dighi (soon to become Calcutta) – has an automatic right of access. The fact we laid the railways, nurtured the bureaucracy, even designed the parliament should put us at the front of the queue. Within the Tory party and its press, it is naturally taken that these historic ties of language, culture, and kin give us an "in" above and beyond other middle-rank powers.

But any encounter with modern India instantly dispels such arrogance. Of course, London is nice to visit and an MA from Oxford is a decent degree (after Harvard, Yale, and Columbia), but the terms of trade have changed. First of all, it is Britain that is now in need of Indian investment – as Tata Motors' purchase of Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Steel's takeover of Corus proves most obviously. And, second, today's Indian elite is focused on America; they are vying with China; they are concerned about Afghanistan. What we think, how we act, who we value: these are all third-order questions.

Where India is interested in Britain is as a business partner – but, crucially, as part of a broader European Union trading bloc. Yet here the colonial mindset of the Conservative party continues. With great gusto and a lot of air miles, our Eurosceptic foreign secretary has left the tarmac to "rebuild" bilateral relations across the world. He has put in sterling work, but the truth is the UK matters much more as part of a European commercial entity rather than on its own. It is through supranational bodies, not from the Foreign Office Locarno room, that our voice is heard.

What is more, the government has so often bungled the soft-power fundamentals in India. First they tried to end the BBC's Hindi programming on the World Service and then they wildly trumpeted our new "closed-door" education policy. Even if the coalition's immigration strategy is the right one, the tone and manner in which it has been advanced has told Indian students they are not welcome in the UK. One of the greatest motors for Anglo-Indian collaboration has been needlessly undermined by a headline-chasing Home Office. In a globalised media world, domestic policy is consumed very differently abroad.

However, we should not get ahead of ourselves. The jets deal with India is not yet dead. The low bid by the French could all be election-year posturing by President Nicolas Sarkozy. But a mature reaction to the negotiation process is paramount. Any more talk of curries and cricket, Rudyard and the Raj, and we can wave goodbye to those valuable BAE jobs.

 

[Indianboy]

These images of the Rafale's HUD show what the terrain following and avoidance modes will look like for the pilot on the HUD.

And a video about Rafale HUD:


Taken from BR:

 

[p2prada]

Re. Rafale in the UK, if Scotland becomes independent and inherit one carrier then...

Nevertheless, an independent Scotland won't be the UK anymore.

Why do Brazilians need Rafale for...?

Precision strike any country in Latin America that defeats them in soccer ?

Great power syndrome. If I want to be big I must have a large package.

 

[p2prada]

I think the good Admiral needs to participate in DFI... Rafale is not next gen, it's current gen (and in the twilight of its generation). PAKFA and J-20 are next gen...

He is certainly talking of Rafale's performance in the air. BTW, IAF mainly operates late 3rd gen and early 4th gen aircraft. So, the drastic jump to Rafale will definitely seem like next gen. It's really meant for jingo consumption.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

I think the good Admiral needs to participate in DFI...

So, that he see all the cock fight between Internet Ultra Expertise here ?

Have a check on Gray Eagle..

 

[jackprince]

I think the good Admiral needs to participate in DFI... Rafale is not next gen, it's current gen (and in the twilight of its generation). PAKFA and J-20 are next gen...

Rafale IS Generation-next compared to other aircrafts (except possibly MKI) in our current inventory. Further, he was enamored by Rafale after the flight, so he was entitled to gush about it.

 

[Indianboy]

French beauty meets the Indian one :thumb:

More here Photos: Dassault Rafale « ✈ Vishal Jolapara

 

[Indianboy]

Aid is meant to alleviate poverty, not to help sell fighter jets


Miriam Ross, media officer

The news that the Indian government might choose to buy French fighter jets instead of British Typhoon jets should have nothing to do with the UK's development aid. But thanks to comments from development minister Andrew Mitchell, aid has become entangled in the media story about the arms trade.

Really? So is it OK, Mr Mitchell, to use aid as a tool to help sell weapons?

No, it's not OK, and it's also illegal. The World Development Movement's exposé of the Pergau dam affair back in 1994 prompted a judicial review that made this emphatically clear. (Tied aid and development: Pergau Dam | World Development Movement)

The UK government had planned to spend £234 million of aid money on the Pergau Dam project in Malaysia, as a sweetener to encourage the Malaysian government to buy arms from British companies. The World Development Movement took the government to court and won, and this landmark case made it clear that UK law does not allow aid to be used as a political tool.

The law hasn't changed, and the only legal purpose of aid is still to alleviate poverty and promote the welfare of the recipient country's people.

We'd really rather not have to take the government to court AGAIN on this matter, as we have plenty of other battles on our hands at the moment"¦

 

[Indianboy]

Neighbor's envy

Why India is building-up military arsenal

 

[Folk hero]

what kind of strings attached to Rafale or it's completely string free and about the stealth will dassault let us modify the air like that fuel probe or like US you will tel us you can't do this do that and so on, what i mean is what is policies regarding Rafale.

will i assume nobody knows pity

 

[Godless-Kafir]

Ok...Now where the hell is our 1 billion in Charity from France?

 

[Folk hero]

Ok...Now where the hell is our 1 billion in Charity from France?

sorry we don't need there charity or aid we are not islamic beggar republic of pakistan

 

[JAISWAL]

friends we had listened, read, and talked about what World have to say about Rafale's selection now we are goin to read the ranting of our eastern neighbour pakistan.
So enjoy, he we go.
.
Why India is building-up military arsenal
.
.
Why India is building-up military arsenal
.
.
NEW DELHI: India's planned purchase of 126
fighters from France's Dassault marks the latest
stage in a huge military procurement cycle that
has turned the world's largest democracy into its
biggest arms importer.
The final Dassault contract is expected to be
worth $12 billion and India is preparing further big
ticket purchases over the coming years, including
of helicopters and artillery.
In a report to be published next week, Jane's
Defence Weekly forecasts that India's aggregate
defence procurement spending between 2011 and
2015 will top $100 billion.
What is less clear -- and the subject of some
heated debate -- is why New Delhi is so hungry
for costly modern weaponry and where the
country's strategic priorities lie.
Some argue that India is simply playing catch-up
and using its growing economic wealth to effect a
pragmatic, and long overdue, overhaul of a
military arsenal still loaded with near-obsolete,
Soviet-era hardware.
But others sense a more combative impulse,
driven by the military modernisation efforts of its
rivals and neighbours Pakistan and China, as well
as the need to secure energy resources and
supply lines outside its borders.
In testimony Tuesday to a Senate Select
Committee, the director of US national
intelligence, James Clapper, said India was
increasingly concerned about China's posture on
their disputed border and the wider South Asia
region.
"The Indian military is strengthening its forces in
preparation to fight a limited conflict along the
disputed border, and is working to balance
Chinese
power projection in the Indian Ocean," Clapper
said.
In order to secure the modern weaponry it needs
to buttress its defence imperatives, India has little
choice but to spend big in the global arms
market.
Its long-stated ambition of sourcing 70 percent of
defence equipment from the home market has
been hampered by weak domestic production --
the result of the stifling impact of excessive
bureaucracy.
Consequently, statistics from the Ministry of
Defence show that India still imports 70 percent
of its defence hardware.
"Where India has had some success is in joint
ventures, and building foreign equipment under
license," said James Hardy, Asia Pacific analyst at
Jane's -- a respected industry publication.
"The licensed production route seems to be
working and at this point in India's development
is a good way of overcoming the bureaucratic
challenges of indigenous production."
The proposed contract with Dassault envisages
the purchase of 18 Rafale aircraft, with the
remaining 108 to be built in India.
India's need for a multi-combat fighter is, in part,
based on its geographical size which spans
several operational theatres with wildly varying
topographies.
"The aircraft they have just get worn out," said
Hardy. "They want aircraft that can fly, land and
take off anywhere from the Himalayas to the
deserts of
Rajasthan."
While the Indian Army has traditionally taken the
lion's share of the national procurement budget,
the focus has begun to shift in recent years
toward the air force and navy.
In December, Russia handed over a nuclear-
powered attack submarine to India on a 10-year
lease -- a deal greeted with alarm and anger by
Pakistan.
The Akula II class craft is the first nuclear-
powered submarine to be operated by India since
it decommissioned its last Soviet-built vessel in
1991.
India is currently completing the development of
its own Arihant-class nuclear-powered
submarine and the Russian delivery is expected to
help crews train for the domestic vessel's
introduction into service next year.
India is particularly keen to strengthen its
maritime capabilities, given China's pursuit of a
powerful "blue water" navy which Delhi sees as a
threat to key shipping routes in the Indian Ocean
and Indian energy assets in the South China Sea.
But many Indian observers reject suggestions
that India is even thinking of getting into an arms
race with China.
"The Chinese have a huge, huge lead. They are in
a different league," said strategic analyst Uday
Bhaskar.
"The gap in conventional terms and WMD
(weapons of mass destruction) is so wide in
China's favour, that it's just not valid to say India
is trying to catch up or seek any kind of
equivalence.
"India is simply seeking what it sees as a level of
self-sufficiency, and is being constrained by its
modest outlay and a decision-making process
that drives everyone up the wall. That's why we
top of the list of arms-importing nations,"
Bhaskar said.
China, meanwhile, seems content to gently mock
what the Communist Party mouthpiece, the
People's Daily, in December described as the
"persecution mania" driving India's military
modernisation.

 

[nitesh]

http://indrus.in/articles/2012/02/03/rafale_why_it_is_the_last_plane_standing_14721.html

Dassault was prepared to down the shutters of the Rafale plant if they had lost, so right now they are over the moon. "We have waited 30 years for this," said a visibly relieved Sarkozy. In fact, the French will now be more than happy to transfer the Rafale's full technology suite to India, and perhaps throw in the Eiffel Tower, too, for good measure.

 

[nitesh]

Any chance of Gripen being the second choice for the next 80 birds? To start adding up in the lower section of IAF.

 

[arya]

rafale will a a great power factor for IAF


just one question is rafale capable to enter in china deep inside and comeback

how is chances ??