Looks like the Mirage is out. Who would you say is the lead contender now. Guess the French realised that the Mirage could no longer compete with the likes of the Typoon and the F-18 with AESA. Guess it will be the Rafale or nothing from now on for the French.
http://bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=5344
French Mirage pulled out of dogfight for IAF deal
Updated 1245 hrs IST (+GMT 5:30), 02.02.06 Email Print
New Delhi: The dogfight for bagging the Indian order for 126 fighter aircraft has taken a sensational twist. The front-runner, the French Mirage 2000, has pulled out, complaining that India is taking too much time to make up its mind.
The French aviation company Dassault cannot wait anymore for the Indians to make up their mind on whether or not to buy the Mirage 2000 Dash 5.
The production line for this fighter aircraft in France has closed down.
And the French have now done some plain-speak.
They’ve conveyed that the costs of sustaining an idle production chain – while waiting indefinitely for the notoriously slow Indian defence procurement process to unfold – are prohibitive.
“Now informally, I also keep hearing, but till I hear formally in writing, then we will see,” SP Tyagi, Chief of Air Staff, said.
Indeed, the French fighter manufacturer is conspicuous by its absence at India’s biggest defence exhibition, which is currently running in New Delhi.
While the French are still considering whether or not to field their heavier and more expensive Rafale fighter, the withdrawal of the Mirage is very significant for the Indian Air Force.
The peculiar requirement for 126 fighters was initially worked out by the IAF keeping the Mirage in mind.
New players are now trying to fill the space vacated by Mirage. These are the American F/A 18 Super Hornet and the British Typhoon, which were not on the original list of fighters surveyed by the IAF.
Here’s what the gate-crashers had to say:
“We took a year to crash into the party but we think we’ve got a very good shot,” Michael Rietz, F/A 18 Programme Manager, says.
“I would not say it’s a gatecrash, I would think it’s a worthy competitor,” AVM HG Mackay, Royal Air Force officer, says.
The line-up of contenders includes Russia’s MiG-29, Sweden’s Gripen and America’s F-16. While it’s too early to say who’s the new front-runner, there’s already some cheeky salesmanship.
“We just wanted to see how the F-16 would look in Indian colours. We thought it would look nice,” Joe Stout, Spokesman, F-16, said.
The stakes are obvious because the IAF’s order will be the world’s biggest since a decade.
With so many twists and turns even before the race has begun, this contest promises to be a thriller of a dogfight.
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February 2, 2006 at 9:40 am