Congratulations to Dassault!!! 10.4 billion Indian Air Force Rafale contract!

[Osprey]

Thank you India for choosing the french ahead of us. All those Brit connections paid off I see, but you bought the worse machine. Bad luck.

[Ploughman]

The Germans were running with this one on behalf of Euro-fighter, (would that make it Gmbh?) BAE got the Saudi deal. Anyway, it wouldn't be the first time Dassault's been to the altar and been jilted, so it ain't over yet. I'd agree that Tiffie's by far the better combat system but it's expensive and so much about this sort of thing is to do with dimensions beyond the combat efficacy of the product. It may well be that, in addition to price, aspects such as technology transfer, which is a subject very dear to India, were much sweeter with the Rafale. It's election year in France, I dare say the Indians will be looking to seal the deal before election day to ensure the best outcome for themselves.

[Ploughman]

You know, would it've killed Dassault to have made that refuelling probe retractable?

[335th_GRAthos]

Originally Posted by Osprey

Thank you India for choosing the french ahead of us. All those Brit connections paid off I see, but you bought the worse machine. Bad luck.

LOL! There goes a dent on British pride...

Agreed, the Brit connections paid off, they did not forget... LOL, LOL...

And for the objective part, I presume you know why a single role combat aircraft (converted to multi-role) is better than a multi-role aircraft all together.

~S~

[Kupsised]

Originally Posted by 335th_GRAthos

LOL! There goes a dent on British pride...

Agreed, the Brit connections paid off, they did not forget... LOL, LOL...

And for the objective part, I presume you know why a single role combat aircraft (converted to multi-role) is better than a multi-role aircraft all together.

~S~

Not sure I agree with how that point is made, but it's still fair enough. If Libya has taught us anything, it's that that Eurofighter needs to undergo serious development to become a decent multirole aircraft. There's a reason we're still using Tornados for the ground attack role, simply because the Eurofighter still hasn't met that capability yet. It's like strapping bombs on a Spitfire - sure, it works just fine, but it's not what it's designed for and there are aircraft that can do the job much better, freeing the fighters up to do what they were designed for.

[335th_GRAthos]

Originally Posted by Kupsised

Not sure I agree with how that point is made, but it's still fair enough. If Libya has taught us anything, it's that that Eurofighter needs to undergo serious development to become a decent multirole aircraft. There's a reason we're still using Tornados for the ground attack role, simply because the Eurofighter still hasn't met that capability yet. It's like strapping bombs on a Spitfire - sure, it works just fine, but it's not what it's designed for and there are aircraft that can do the job much better, freeing the fighters up to do what they were designed for.

I admit yours is a much more balanced statement, sorry for been cheeky at my previous post.

Eurofighter is a great plane, for what it was developed for.
It is unfortunate that somewhere along the timeline, armies requirements changed somewhat and now a lot of armies favour a multi-purpose platform instead of an air superiority plane.

@Ploughman: The Rafal is a very beautiful plane, much more good looking than the Eurofighter!
"would it've killed Dassault to have made that refuelling probe retractable? " LOL! +1000 !


~S~

[bongodriver]

Nice to see all that aid money being put to good use.

[bongodriver]

It seems that this is actually just a 1st round in a series of decision making processes and it does not mean that Dassault have won the deal yet, at least that is what I just heard during PMQ's a minute ago.

[JG53Frankyboy]

i also read that the decission can still change......but i doubt it actually.

[WTE_Galway]

Originally Posted by bongodriver

Nice to see all that aid money being put to good use.

???

Who sends aid to India these days?

India is number 8 in the world for GDP and almost certain to pass the UK in the next years.

If anything aid will soon be going the other way.