No idea what WAFF is but if you must know I’m part French and have a French surname.

My issue is with the unsubstantiated BS about Typhoon…I have no problem with Rafale or it winning the contest. Personally I think it is a slightly better fit for the role but I am fed up of unsubstantiated BS about Typhoon.

I always found amazing that for an aircraft assembled in Germany or UK, one wing is made ​​in Italy and the another one made in Spain.
Like it or not, this is a “legacy” that will have to face any potential customer not able to manufacture a typhoon from A to Z.

In contrast Dassault is an expert and is world leader in aerospace digital design. Many Rafale components were designed with the underlying idea to reduce both production, acquisition and maintenance costs and the Rafale was the first combat jet to be industrialized from a digital mockup…

http://www.ainonline.com/?q=aviation-news/dubai-air-show/2009-11-14/secrets-low-rate-low-cost-rafale-production

and I have no doubt that HAL could be highly interested to benefit from Dassault Aviation and Dassault Systemes expertise.

Again not a problem as India will construct most of the airframe themselves including the wings! Only the initial batch will be built in Europe and major structures coming from more then one supplier has caused no problem for Typhoon or Tornado prior to that…more myth making from the increasingly worried Rafale brigade!

Rafale:

* Built in one country with one assembly line.

* Any upgrading requirement just needs the agreement of French government itself.

Eurofighter:

* Five assembly lines in order to make every partners happy, but the total order book of Eurofighter is much less than five times of Rafale’s order book.

* You have to transport the fighter’s major components and systems from the factories of four different countries to the one of the five assembly lines before building an Eurofighter, which shall be more complicated, expensive, and time-consuming than building a Rafale.

* None of the four partners of Eurofighter has the complete designing, developing, and future upgrading rights of Typhoon. Therefore, if any airforce of the four partners wants some new upgradings for their own Typhoons, it has to ask for the agreement of all the four partners at first ~ which is often a time-consuming and money-wasting job…..

WRONG WRONG WRONG! How many times does this have to be explained!!!:mad:

INDIA IS NOT DEALING WITH MULTIPLE COUNTRIES AND ASSEMBLY LINES!

They are dealing with the manufacturer and the designated sales representative…in this case Germany.

Transport of components from suppliers in different countries is normal in this modern world unless you are a member of Rafale fan brigade whereapon it is a massive problem. Non of the Eurofighter nations will restrict access to parts!!!

In the case of manufacture and upgrade India will deal with the manufacturer and will not have to go to each supplier seperately…thats the manufacturers problem! India will not have to go into negotiations with each country just the manufacturer that represents the consortium!

SIMPLES!

The Typhoon has an inferior radar and a higher RCS to start with .

Yet again another of the Rafale Fanboy brigade myths…how many times have I read that unsubstantiated guff!:mad: ECR90/CAPTOR might be M-SCAN but it is arguably the best of its type in the world. It scan rate is quicker then older m-scan radar allowing it to do many of the things usually associate with E-SCAN. It can also see further and has better performance at high angles relative to the target then the P-SCAN radar fitted to Rafale at the moment. Academic really as eventually the E-SCAN radar with larger antenna will be fitted and a repositioner.

As for the aerodynamics stuff…again lots of what I saw at an airshow and unsubstantiated myths by a group of people who seem to be a bit shirty that their mighty Rafale hasn’t been automatically selected in India! I would think they would be used to this as Rafale has won nothing up to this point!:diablo:

(Roll on howls of protest and accusations of bribery in other contests…)

I was waiting for the reader to the patronising lets explain what it is for kids explanation of what a Cruise missile and nuclear bomb is.

I always hated that as a child, just because I wasn’t an adult didn’t mean I couldn’t understand complicated concepts.

I’m going to quote myself now Geoff_B is answer to your idea:

Originally Posted by Fedaykin
The MOD will want all the maintenance facilities, simulators, training aids and airframes to be in one place to maximise cost savings. There is a good chance that will mean an RAF base.

Operating out of Marham (if chosen) and Yeovilton only ends up increasing costs. Operating out of one base maximises the value gained out of the equipment purchased. Or pilots and ground crew housed in one base end up traveling 235 miles to use the facilities of the other. There is no chance whatsoever the MOD will pay for two sets of synthetic training aids and simulators plus duplicating maintenance resources.

Also if the RAF is going to be the surge element of the F35C for carrier operations it makes a significant amount of sense keeping them on the same base.

Now whilst in support of carrier operations using a base in the South West close to carriers operating base is helpful it isn’t a disaster if they end up in Norfolk, ours is a small country and the F35C is very much a jet allowing quick transit to the South coast. An IFLOLS sight at Marham along with the new generation simulators will allow the same kind of workup. The main pain will be moving the spares about.

Yes.

Also, cheaper to refit QE with cat & trap ASAP than buy & operate a split fleet, & gives vastly greater operational flexibility to have two CTOL carriers than one plus an oversized & over-specced LPH.

Also with the money spent upgrading Rosyth with among other things a dock capable of taking the QE class and a Goliath crane there is a great deal of logic using it to refit QE for CATOBAR operations. It should also be noted that Babcock has actually stated it is not interested in using Rosyth for ship building beyond QE class. Rosyth was always a repair yard and its only Gordon Brown protecting local interests that got it proposed and selected for the build strategy. Bae always wanted to use H&W Belfast but jacked the concept in when Labour came to power and Gordon Brown took hold of the purse strings.

Type 26 will probably be Clyde built with work also going Portsmouth for sections. As for MARS as I stand corrected now and it is a going concern…well I hope they build the hull in a foreign yard then fit it out here. Gdansk is desperate for the work if we wanted to keep it in Europe.

Small detail but Sarkozy was talking about Euro membership not EU.