Lifefist confirms it, EF is possibly the L1. Cites WSJ’s article and some very “strong rumors” floating around.
http://livefist.blogspot.com/2012/01/eurofighter-lowest-bidder-in-indian.html
Ah finally pics, thanks!
So sea trials are supposed to be in early 2013, does that not sound extremely optimistic?
I think the modules for the angled deck and the island should be more or less ready if they plan to start sea trials that soon. Comparing with GE image from last January, the speed of construction has been impressive.
Good find twinblade and boom,
It would be interesting to see the top view, the port side view & view from the stern for the “openings”. It would be interesting to see how they intend to carry all the heavy equipment to be installed inside the hull….will it be through the two-hanger openings and the stern opening? Or do they have a good opening up on the top deck, kept opened/incomplete to facilitate lowering of the heavy equipment to the lower deck?
Not sure what type of openings still remain on the top, the view on google earth has not been updated in a very long time, and you can see that a significant number of modules of the hull had not been connected when the image was taken.
More images courtesy Tarmak blog




larger image from the article that Boom posted..possibly IAC-1?
Yes this is the IAC image and concurs with what was visible on GE. Had I not seen the tiny image posted on Tarmak blog, I would have called it a botched up PS job, but sometimes real pictures have a capacity to look totally fake 🙂

Good question. I know that mbda and the Indians are working on a sam system together based on the MICA. Maybe the deal includes vital TOT or production in India?
As Brad Piff said, India is looking for ToT in order to produce its armaments independantly, so when they buy a batch of missiles with ToT, the price is obviously higher than if they bought the batch of missiles alone (one can’t expect any manufacturer to just give away its technology for nothing)
Uhm… the deal does not include ToT or manufacturing in India and Maitri QRSAM is a separate project for which the deal was already made a long time back, which already involved complete ToT for “sensitive technologies necessary for manufacturing missiles in India” including french seekers.
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?topicName=india&id=news/awx/2010/06/08/awx_06_08_2010_p0-232603.xml
http://www.defenseworld.net/go/defensenews.jsp?id=6428&h=MBDA bags Euro 950 million missile deal for Indian Mirage 2000 upgrade
AASM to come soon hopefully…This with the MICA deal will be a strong incentive for the rafale.
One question though, why should a MICA missile cost over $2.5 million a pop ?
BAE warns on Saudi Typhoon deal
Defence group BAE Systems has warned that it is yet to secure an agreement with Saudi Arabia over the next stage of the country’s Typhoon order and therefore an estimated £500m payment expected in 2011 will have to be deferred
With the additional F-15’s is there any scope for further typhoon orders ?
Nice Torque Aviation video of IAF birdies..
Too bad it isn’t in HD.
Edit : Found it, full length video from Vayu Shakti 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DItXAZfIhVY&list=UUQ8a6nj8F5zDb-HQfdVxHOA&index=16&feature=plcp
Knowing what we know now, JSF should have been a twin engine aircraft with two EPE engines and a separate advanced STOVL aircraft on the lines of Yak-141 should have been built for the USMC.
Flateric, any news on HAL team arriving in Russia to study/analyze PAK-FA for the proposed FGFA? Any particiaption from Indian Air Force?
I posted a press release about that 5-6 months back, according to that the first round of training/project update was done back then. I might have to dig up that link somewhere.
I thought it was five wet stations, where they can either use five 800L tanks or three 1200L tanks.
The Idea never really took off.
http://www.tejas.gov.in/specifications/weapons.html
I read the caption where I found it at. If its a design load its still impressive to me. 🙂
for that concept to be realised, Tejas would have had 5 wet stations (out of total 7 :p) and the second pylon from the wing tip would have to be rated for a load of around 1200Kg at least.

I find the pic to be excellent. Far better than some plain-jane anodyne composition of plain skies at the usual times with nothing but the aircraft.
Now I need to figure out how to save this pic and make it my desktop.
somebody uploaded it on imageshack

Supposedly…
This doesn’t look like Kochi-Ernakulam, that place doesn’t have any haze. Its usually either pouring from the skies or as bright as overhead lamp in a torture room but no haze.
Edit: @Quadbike, if you are reading this, get off your seat, grab a decent camera with a bazooka sized lens and go get us some pictures 🙂