The Problem is Turkey is also a NATO member and EU do not have a force, Turkey is Greece’s biggest threat so it cannot afford to have a token force as long as the turks have a big one.

Mirage math: Israel better than France

New Delhi, Dec. 10: Israel is close to swinging an order to upgrade French-origin Mirage 2000 aircraft with the Indian Air Force (IAF) despite France’s charm offensive in hosting the Indian military on the Champs Elysees.

Tel Aviv has offered to upgrade the frontline fighter aircraft, of which the IAF has three squadrons, at rates nearly 40 per cent less than the price quoted by the French.

Israel, whose chief of defence staff returns to Tel Aviv after visiting New Delhi this week for the first time since diplomatic relations were established in 1992, is also favoured to win an order for 18 quick-reaction surface-to-air missiles (QR-SAMs) from the Indian Army that could cost more than Rs 2,000 crore.

The possible loss of the Mirage 2000 upgrade bid will hurt the French the most.

In July this year, France had hosted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and, in a rare honour, contingents of the Indian armed forces led the Bastille Day parade. Last week, French defence minister Herve Morin was in New Delhi courting the Indian defence establishment.

Early next month, President Nicolas Sarkozy could be back in India with wife Carla Bruni whom he has promised to take to Taj Mahal. Sarkozy visited India in January last year minus Carla.

Defence ministry sources said the delegation led by Israeli defence services chief, General Gabi Ashkenazi, made presentations to the top brass, including the chief of air staff, Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik, on the Mirage 2000 upgrade that Israel Aircraft Industries would carry out in collaboration with other firms.

In back-of-the envelope calculations, the cost of the Israeli bid totals Rs 96 crore per aircraft while the French bid is worth Rs 152 crore. The IAF has at least 51 Mirage 2000s.

The upgrade would include superior avionics and electronic warfare systems that would extend the service life of the aircraft by 15 years.

Although French companies Dassault Aviation and Thales are the original equipment suppliers, the price quoted, say defence ministry sources, may be put to better use by ordering new aircraft.

The French have already beaten down prices and there is a possibility they will go even lower. They are keen that the deal be done at the time of Sarkozy’s visit, though similar hopes during Singh’s Paris visit in July were dashed.

For the Spyder QR-SAM missile systems, the army may sign a contract within a month. The IAF has already contracted the Israelis for the systems.

The close-range missile defence systems are meant as a protective shield for the army’s critical immovable assets.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091211/jsp/nation/story_11850649.jsp

Go Israel

I wonder what will replace their Mig 29s which are in a worse condition IIRC.

I am not aware of a ready made Enhanced Performance variant of the Ej200. The first priority is getting the MK2 ready on time and into IAF service, and not exporting it. Now if you look at the Tejas MK1 programme, you will see that the thrust of the F 404IN proved to be inadequate because of weight issues (adding more stuff as IAF wanted a fighter that is relevant today). Weight over runs in MK2 Tejas is a clear possibility and we do not want the same situation again where we select an engine with ‘just enough’ thrust to power the fighter, it will be wiser to have a safety net of some additional thrust in the case of increased weight as well as future upgrades.

What is the production rate of the Su 35 ? It will depend on when the PAK FA will be ready for production I think, It will make little sense to have a large order of the Su 35, if the PAK FA is available by then.

The upside of buying American is obvious: it will give teeth to the military cooperation arrangement, emphasising, among other things, inter-operability of military systems envisaged by the 2005 Defence Framework Agreement that both countries see as central to containing an ambitious and fast-growing China. The Russian military cooperation with India has also been predicated on the joint need to deal with the common Chinese threat. Buying the F-16 or F-18 will upset Moscow, which perceives the MMRCA decision as something of a litmus test of its continued good standing with India.

That is just bull. When you have practically eveyrthing else on order or in JV with the Russians the ‘MRCA’ is a litmus ? I do not think Russians are such fickle allies. If they are then our strategic independence is already compromised.

The article is also poorly edited/written

[QUOTE]Worse, unlike the Indian Navy with its warship directorate, the IAF has no in-house expertise in designing aircraft and never acquired a stake in indigenous manufacture. Dispassionate analyses suggest that it matches or surpasses either of the American aircraft in the race and, in its more advanced configuration, can outperform even the Joint Strike Fighter F-35, a plane Lockheed Martin have promised to replace the F-16 with on a “one for one” basis were India to buy the latter aircraft.
/QUOTE]

What Is ‘It’

What should Greece do in the circumstance it find itself in. It has an enemy who is allied with its allies (so it cannot count on them). Well I will tell you when Greece will stop spending this much on defense ie. If Turkey is kept out of European Union and the EU becomes a single military force which will defend the territories of its member states.

Sure, being used as.

And I personally don’t believe there is very much of a man made global warming. What bothers me is the religious fervor shown by some “personnalities”, and their media followers, all that backed by what proved to be phony evidence.
Ecology is the latest cash cow, targeted at those like you and I, who work hard to make a living, while the real culprits who damage the environment (on a broad scope here, being trash, water pollution, … ) aren’t being remotely affected.

As for a rise of the oceans by a couple of cm, so what, the water was higher before, this is just cyclic. And if you decide to build right on the beach, your fault.

regarding global temps, I also once saw a chart “proving” man made global warming… Well, guess what, the temperatures rose from 1940 to 1946 more or less. And then from the 1970’s on.
What happened then? a war in the pacific and in northern Africa, with lots of temperature readings in places where there were very little before, at a time where not all town had a weather station. The result? More numbers collected in warm weather, will lead to a slight raise of the mean temps. And from the 1970’s on, we saw more weather stations in the southern hemisphere as well, as a whole. Same effect.

Just my 2 cents.

And, after all, bring on global warming, I always dreamt of having palmtrees in the backyard 😀

I have long dreamt about Migrating to Siberia and starting rice farming there. :diablo: Global Warming is not all that bad.