http://www.zinio.com/reader.jsp?issue=416198869&o=ext

The plot thickens, RFP’s have also been issued to Boeing for f-18 and f-15. Jump to pg 48

I think it’s a move to force Dassault to put the cost down. However since the Rafale is cheaper, I don’t know how much they can force dassault to lower its cost.

Nic

Emirateans wanted Rafale with uprated engines and a more powerful radar…

.. so maybe its for Rafale to increase its capabilities ?

Quote from an article in “The Telegraph”. Source

Fighter bid like no other
– European rivals sit at long table as offers are read out

WARNING : Headache alert !!

…must have.. *gasp*…..old monk…

😮 I deleted my post. Just noticed that it is not clear from the news whether the support equipment such as launchers/Tatra vehicles and mobile command post etc. are included in the $5 billion orderbook or not. So missile inventory number could be wrong. But I expect the figure to be quite large, as all produce is going to IA and IN and they don’t have “capacity” to export the missile due to continous and large orders from India itself. Note as some SE Asian countries have expressed interest in the missile in the past and Vietnam is currently interested in it.

Army will have most number of missiles in the end and could go upto 1000 as was reported some time back and I think they will be the biggest user of the missile in the end. Although Navy will be quite close as they are also inducting submarine based ones. Air-Force will be distant third.

Actually I have seen the 1800 number in the past as well (for overall production run of the missile). If i am not wrong It was from Dr Pillai contemplating on the number of units that Indian armed forces will eventually acquire.

India practically does not have anything to offer for JV.
India is only acquireing licenses of Russian system assembling. look at RD-33 license. Russia is happy to sell licenses as it is upfront money without manufacturing the product. If you look at Russia acqusitions. it is entirely concentrated on EU firms & products.
There is expectation in India that if it buys from EU/US. there is greater option of training personal in those countries and the end immigrate. This MMRCA does not make sense. I highly doubt Mi-28 is that much underdeveloped. and it is not that India signed and getting choppers tommorrow.

The basic premise of a co development is to produce something which both parties desire, at costs which are acceptable to both. However IP rights, work share, profit margins and sales rights are the reasons why partnerships are so difficult to work with. The kind of partnership you are talking about is, “i make nuts, you make bolts, lets work together”, however with a fairly capable partner which can handle several subsystems (which the senior partner could have developed anyway), the Russians can concentrate on technological breakthroughs in core capabilities which might have been left unexplored if the project was not jointly funded and/or jointly developed.

The official Tejas website is up 🙂

Tejas- India’s light combat aircraft

Interestingly under the performance section

Leading Particulars and Performance

Dimensions

Weights

Aircraft Performance

Wing Span
8.2 m
Take off weight (clean)
9000 kg
Max Speed
Mach 1.6 / 1350 Kmph (CAS)
Length
13.2 m
Take off weight (max)
13200 kg
Max ‘g’
+9 to -3.5
Height Overall
4.4 m

Service Ceiling
15 km

No empty weight though (*sigh* now it cannot be condemned completely whilst comparing with Gripen C/D :p)

Btw, the site is sleeker than what is expected from GoI sites.

When the Tejas site was launched in June, under the performance parameters tab, the loaded weight was 9000Kg with 9g capacity. Now the loaded weight displayed is 9500Kg with 8g capacity. Is it just upto the FOC period or has there been any shift in goal posts ?

PS: In the video gallery, if you hover your mouse over the video, on the top right corner a tab for download appears. Videos can be downloaded on a decent resolution instead of crappy you tube videos.

India eyeing airborne surveillance and reconnaissance radars.

Tucson: Indian Air Force, seeking airborne surveillance and reconnaissance radars to beef up security along India’s long borders, has sent two Requests for Information (RFIs) to US-based defence equipment major Raytheon, a top company official said.

“We have received two RFIs from the IAF…We have responded to them but it is very early stages of forming the requirements,” Justin Monger, Business Manager for Raytheon’s Integrated Defence Systems, told visiting Indian reporters here in this city in Arizona state.

A good time to make a bid for UK’s sentinels ?

Suman Sharma, who just came back from US after visiting Raytheon facilities has tweeted this:-

sumansharma
Chindits
Chindits: #Raytheon To Do The Entire Weapons Suite For Typhoo… chhindits.blogspot.com/2011/11/raythe…

https://twitter.com/#!/sumansharma/status/134868869344014336

1.Paveway IV
2.Sidewinder
3.AMRAAM
4.HARM
5.JSOW