The 138 million Euro per plane reduced cost is still more expensive than the per plane cost of the Rafale for India which is 91 million Euro.
And then there is the preferences of the IAF whose liking for the Rafale comes from good reasons such as the proven multirole capabilities vis a vis the Eurofighter, prior positive experience with the Mirage 2000 etc.
And then the huge time lag introduced by comparing 2 aircraft again when the entire urgency is to induct Asap to arrest soon to fall squadron numbers. That was they key reason for the emergency purchase that the government and IAF were faced with as the MRCA was going nowhere, FGFA is a far way away with its own other issues etc.
Add to this the presence of Leonardo in the Eurofighter consortium and its de facto blacklisting post the Agusta helicopter scam. No MoD bureaucrat who cares for his career will in any way want to be associated with that.
Finally the article itself deliberately presents the information in a false way. Such as the price given for the Rafale per plane is literally 7.1 billion divided by 36. But this includes the weapons, logistics cost (infrastructure & spares for 5 years), performance guarantee, additional enhancements etc. which all come up to about half the 7.1 billion.
I say deliberately as the facts that I have stated here are easily verifiable from publicly available information. The author chose to present it the way he did.
How seriously can anyone in a responsible position take such a hack job to issue a official response.
And then there is the preferences of the IAF whose liking for the Rafale comes from good reasons such as the proven multirole capabilities vis a vis the Eurofighter, prior positive experience with the Mirage 2000 etc.
And then the huge time lag introduced by comparing 2 aircraft again when the entire urgency is to induct Asap to arrest soon to fall squadron numbers. That was they key reason for the emergency purchase that the government and IAF were faced with as the MRCA was going nowhere, FGFA is a far way away with its own other issues etc.
Add to this the presence of Leonardo in the Eurofighter consortium and its de facto blacklisting post the Agusta helicopter scam. No MoD bureaucrat who cares for his career will in any way want to be associated with that.
Finally the article itself deliberately presents the information in a false way. Such as the price given for the Rafale per plane is literally 7.1 billion divided by 36. But this includes the weapons, logistics cost (infrastructure & spares for 5 years), performance guarantee, additional enhancements etc. which all come up to about half the 7.1 billion.
I say deliberately as the facts that I have stated here are easily verifiable from publicly available information. The author chose to present it the way he did.
How seriously can anyone in a responsible position take such a hack job to issue a official response.
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