BlackArcherRafael targets Indian Rafales
Israeli guided weapons manufacturer Rafael is offering its Python 5 and Derby air-to-air missiles for integration with some of the Dassault Rafales expected to enter service with the Indian air force
..
BlackArcheryea well i was thinking that who else would need a desert camo that is sorta “pro russia” lol cuz india dose not have “deserts” like iran and syria. Russia i dont think will sell these to pro NATO bloc countries like Quatar or the Saudis so this is like an easter egg 🙂 to make it more believable, – in all honesty i saw the f35 with a bunch of flags on the side so i thought it would look cool but these are the only ones i thought of….
Actually, India does have a significantly large desert, the Thar desert and there have been IAF aircraft in desert camo schemes.. 🙂
HF-24 Marut in desert camo
There was even a hybrid desert-jungle camo on a Mirage-2000H
and this was after it was nearly all covered up in a camo like that of the AdlA’s Mirage-2000Ds
and then of course there were MiG-23s and MiG-27s in a semi-desert camo
BlackArcherDassault denies asking the Indian govt. for an intergovernmental guarantee on Rafale deal
Did’nt ask for Rafale deal guarantee-Dassault
NEW DELHI: France and India are fully on track to seal the deal for the around $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project, under which IAF will acquire 126 Rafale fighter jets, French ambassador Francios Richier said.
“Negotiations have recently achieved significant progress. We are looking to sign the intergovernmental agreement together with the commercial contract for the planes,” said Richier, speaking exclusively to TOI.Reacting to recent reports that France had asked the Indian government to sign a government guarantee to safeguard the negotiations for the fighters, Richier denied that any such agreement was asked for. “We have worked very closely with all Indian governments, so we have no reason to ask for such an agreement,” he said.
The final MMRCA contract is expected to be inked by the next government that comes to office in May-June after the general elections. Even the ongoing French Scorpene project, under which six submarines are being built at Mazagon Docks, was eventually signed by the UPA-1 government in October 2005 despite the bulk of its negotiations taking place under the previous NDA regime.
“We are confident about the progress in the negotiation process (for the MMRCA project),” said Richier. Though the pace of the final negotiations has been glacial since the Rafale was finally selected over its rivals in January 2012, the IAF is also now quite hopeful that the contract with French aviation major Dassault will be inked in the 2014-2015 fiscal.
Dassault and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) finalized the MMRCA work-share agreement in February, under which the Indian defence PSU will have a 70% role, after months of bitter wrangling. Under the MMRCA project, while the first 18 jets will come in “fly-away condition”, HAL is to manufacture the rest 108 fighters under licence over six years.
“Now that issues like work-share, warranty and liquidity damages have been resolved, the responsibility matrix of all Indian production agencies is being finalized. Once that is done, the draft contract will be readied for the final government clearance,” said a source.Eurofighter Typhoon as well as the US fighters that lost out in the long-drawn selection process are eagerly waiting in the wings in the hope of staging a comeback in the dogfight over the world’s biggest such tender.
But there seems little possibility of that happening now, with India having invested almost a decade in finally selecting the Rafale after extensive technical and commercial evaluation. Down to just 34 fighter squadrons at present when it requires at least 44, IAF is banking upon the MMRCA project to retain its combat edge against adversaries.
BlackArcherSo suggesting a crash could be pilot error is “IAF bashing”?
As for irritating you, sorry, could not really care less.
your shamelessness in bringing in your Pakistani bias and questioning the crew training (digital cockpit too much to handle, my foot!) when there have been fatalities involved and no accident report as yet is incredibly distasteful..
no one said that this may not be due to pilot error, but we all know why you’re suggesting what you are..no need to act all aggrieved and innocent.
maybe one should question the quality of PAF personnel/equipment when the next PAF jet / helo goes down, which happens regularly anyway..but then I have a little more sense of respect to those who lost their lives. even if they were Pakistani.
BlackArcherYup, lets be blunt, until a board of inquiry is convened we will never know. In fact if they cannot get to the bottom of it we may never know. No air force raises its hand and yells “our pilots need more training”, but if anyone has been following the fiasco that is the IAF training procurment, you can guess these guys (Wing Co’s probably trained in the 80s/90s) may not have had the experiance needed. Yes, they went on a C-130J course at Little Rock, but they had been trained on Soviet equipment and flying AN-32s prior to this. May not be popular saying it, but maybe these guys found transition to an new all glass cockpit and powerful 4 engined type a bit too much…
showing your true colours..coming up with cheap and snide remarks on training or crew proficiency when there has been a tragic loss of life, that too based on pure conjecture..shame on you.
Of course, the PAF never ever suffers from attrition, since their crew are trained on the most advanced platforms and sims..
BlackArcherVery interesting, the price hike for il76 airframes is really starting to bite. No doubt Airbus military will make an offer more then likely utilising an Israeli radar. I can see Boeing offering a Wedgetail variant as well.
Interesting times!
Israeli radar? The radar will be a derivative of the indigenous AESA that has been developed for the EMB-145I AEWACS..what they want is a platform and the certification of that platform with the rotodome sized to fit the Indian radar..
Will be very interesting to see who respond to the RFP..The Wedgetail has a static balance beam like radar whereas the AWACS India project seems to aim for a rotodome. So Boeing may offer the 767 platform that has been in development for the tanker role, or a 777-200 platform..The Russians may well offer the Il-476..Airbus will probably look to offer the A330 or A320 but neither have any existing AWACS applications.
an older article on the Project AWACS India
New Delhi : An indigenous AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System), that enables the Indian Air Force (IAF) look up to 400 km into Pakistan and China while remaining in the safety of its own airspace, should be available by about 2020, its developer says.
Avinash Chander, head of India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Scientific Adviser to the defence minister, told India Strategic (http://www.indiastrategic.in ) in an interview that some initial capabilities had been achieved and it is now natural to progress towards creating this tremendous force-multiplier for the IAF, which currently has three AWACS and has projected a requirement of 10 in the next decade.
The radar, the key element of the AWACS, will be a rotating rotodome with electronic scanning, and as the space requirements for the equipment are considerable, DRDO was looking at either the Boeing-767 or Airbus A- 330 as the platform.
There have been some discussions with their manufacturers on what can be done. Once the specifications are frozen and government sanction obtained, an Expression of Interest would be invited from them, and then an RfP (Request for Proposals – or tender) would be issued.
The development of the radars and sensors would continue in parallel. After that, the key task and challenge would be their integration on the aircraft.
“Our design works are progressing but the key is the integration of the equipment on the aircraft,” Avinash Chander observed.
The three IAF AWACS comprise the Israeli Phalcon radar mounted aboard a Russian IL-76 aircraft.
Two smaller Airborne Early Warning Systems fitted on Embraer 145 aircraft should also be with IAF by mid-2014.
But numbers are important as not all aircraft can be in the air all the time and IAF has large areas to scan all around India.
As for the rotodome, Chander explained that the static radars, which scan electronically, have some limitation of a blind area as it is fitted on the fuselage of an aircraft. With a rotating dish – or antenna – it can cover 360 degrees.The radar being developed by DRDO will have both physical rotation and electronic rotation of the radar waves, Avinash Chander said.
Notably, as both the aircraft being looked at are civilian airliners, their maintenance will not be a problem as there are a large number of engineering and technical personnel available in India. The choice of payload in terms of weight and configuration would eventually help decide the choice of the aircraft as well.
The cost of an AWACS depends upon the choice of the platform, that is, the aircraft, onboard systems, effort in technical integration and the numbers required to defray the development expenses, estimated at around $300 million (Rs.18.5 billion) per fully loaded aircraft.
It would be cheaper perhaps initially to buy a ready made system like the Phalcon but if the country is looking at control of technology that the Indian forces would use, then it is imperative to develop it with indigenous systems to the extent possible and integrate it at home. That would raise the cost by at least 25 per cent but ensure a strategic independence in operating it.
BlackArcherBill Sweetman suggests Gripen E might be considered to be the first Gen. 6 fighter on the market… :dev2:
😀
has he lost it or is he deliberately poking fun at LM? Sweetman is a known F-35 baiter after all..:highly_amused:
BlackArcherGripen E not reliant on Swiss referendum results – Saab’s Swiss campaign leader Richard Smith
Janes article- Gripen E not reliant on Swiss referendum
…
Speaking at the company’s Linköping production facility near Stockholm, Saab’s Swiss campaign leader for the Gripen E, Richard Smith, said that the contract signed with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (Försvarets materielverk – FMV) to deliver 60 Gripen E aircraft to the Swedish Air Force (SwAF) will continue regardless of how the Swiss vote in the referendum scheduled for mid-May.“[If there is a ‘no’ vote], the Swedish programme continues unaffected,” he said. Smith’s comments provide an increased level of security for the Gripen E programme, which had originally been dependent on Saab securing a strategic partner to help fund development.
Should the Swiss vote against the Gripen (the referendum itself is actually on the Gripen Fund Law, rather than on the 22 aircraft themselves), Saab can still secure that strategic partner through Brazil, which has selected the Gripen E to fulfil its F-X2 requirement. Negotiations for that 36-aircraft contract are expected to be concluded at the end of 2014, but Smith suggested that not even that deal was now needed to secure the SwAF’s order.
Even so, Saab will be desperate to sign Switzerland up as the first export customer for the Gripen E when the voters cast their ballots on 18 May. The Swiss Fighter Replacement programme has been a long and drawn out process, and one which Saab has not found easy despite emerging as the winning contender in November 2011.
“The campaign has been quite a roller-coaster of a ride,” noted Smith. “The Gripen has been called the IKEA fighter in Switzerland – it’s funny, but all these small hits can hurt you and force you to be reactive all the time. That takes energy and resources.”
When the competition first started back in 2007, Saab at that time submitted its Gripen C/D to compete against the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (which dropped out in 2008), Dassault Rafale, and Eurofighter Typhoon. In 2009, Saab threw the developmental Gripen NG (later to become Gripen E) into the mix, which it offered alongside the Gripen C/D. The competition stalled in 2010, but was resurrected in mid-2011 following intense lobbying by Swiss industry, which eagerly anticipated the 100% offset package worth some CHF2.2 billion (USD2.5 billion).
According to Smith, this offering of two differently designated aircraft muddied the waters somewhat and led to confusion in the minds of many in Switzerland and beyond. “The branding of Gripen E has got us into a difficult position, with people able to accuse it of being a ‘paper airplane’,” he said. “The same can be said for the Tranche 3 Typhoon or the Batch 2 or Batch 3 Rafale, but no one ever does. If we had just called it Gripen, I think we would have got away with a lot of the problems we have been having in the media. We gave the ‘no’ side ammunition to use against us.”
…
BlackArcherNew Delhi issues RFI for local production of PC-7 MkII basic trainers
BlackArcherand this part has got to be wrong !
Although the Gripen’s payload capacity is less than that of its competitors, the aircraft can take off with a maximum payload of 16.5 tonnes, including up to 7.2 tonnes of weapons.
it can’t possibly even take-off with 16.5 tonnes payload!
BlackArcherThere are around 60. Not a “very large” number, and there have been quite a few incidents as TR1 points out.
rubbish. Over 132 were already delivered to the IA, IAF, IN, Coast Guard and BSF, as well as 12 for civilian operators. There is still a backlog of nearly 159 Dhruv MkIII and 80 Rudras as well. I’m not including overseas customers in the list either.
Currently, more than 132 Dhruv helicopters are serving the Indian Defence Forces. HAL has also built 12 civil variant Dhruv helicopters and they are being used by its customers.
BlackArcherhttp://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2014/02/21/3-die-in-helicopter-crash-in-ecuador/
What is going on with the Dhruv? Seems to be a lot of accident relative to the operational number.
too early to comment without knowing the specifics of the crash..besides, there is a very large number of Dhruvs flying with the Indian Armed Services and their safety record is good.
BlackArcherThe fight between IAF and HAL over the basic trainer doesn’t seem to show any signs of abating..IAF now wants to assemble Pilatus PC-7 MkII trainers at its own No. 5 Base Repair Depot in Sulur, Coimbatore instead of taking the HTT-40 from HAL.
IAF proposes to build Pilatus trainers by itself
January 20, 2014: In a dramatic new episode to the ‘trainer wars’ as they should probably be known now given the weekly intrigue surrounding the IAF-HAL battle over basic trainer aircraft, the Indian Air Force has pitched a proposal to the MoD offering that is ready to license-build Pilatus PC-7 Mk.II propeller trainers at the No.5 Base Repair Depot in Sulur near Coimbatore, under the Southern Air Command.
..Swiss firm Pilatus, which has already supplied most of the 75 trainers contracted by the IAF in 2012, has given the IAF a note of endorsement on this account, which the IAF has duly forwarded along with its pitch proposal to the MoD in order to strengthen its case.
..
BlackArcherIAF to receive the first 2 EMB-145I AEWACS from DRDO in another six months time, as per Dr Avinash Chander, head of DRDO
But he shared another good news: two Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft developed by DRDO should be delivered to the Indian Air Force (IAF) within six months, or mid-2014.DRDO developed its own phased array radar, and has put in on board three Brazilian Embraer 145 aircraft. Two will be supplied to IAF, and one is being retained by it for further development of various systems.
“The aircraft has completed various flight evaluation trials, and the communication relays had been fully established and made operational.”The aircraft are now under radar evaluation in the final tests, and should be ready for delivery in four to six months.
and one more article giving some additional details on the next AWACS that is to be developed by DRDO
Dr Avinash Chander, DRDO chief and Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, told India Strategic in an interview that some initial capabilities had been achieved and it is now natural to progress towards creating this tremendous asset for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The radar, the key element of the AWACS, will be a rotating rotodome with electronic scanning, and as the space requirements for the equipment are considerable, DRDO was looking at either the Boeing 767 or Airbus A 330 as the platform.There have been some discussions with their manufacturers on what can be done. Once the specifications are frozen and government sanction obtained, an Expression of Interest would be invited from them, and then an RfP (Request for Proposals – or tender) would be issued.
The development of the radars and sensors would continue in parallel. After that, the key task and challenge would be their integration on the aircraft. “Our design works are progressing but the key is the integration of the equipment on the aircraft,” he observed.
Notably, IAF is looking for some 10 AWACS in the next decade.
At present, IAF has three Israeli Phalcon AWACS fitted on board Russian-supplied IL 76 aircraft. An AWACS has a range of around 400 km or more.
Two smaller AEWs fitted on Embraer 145 aircraft should also be with IAF by mid-2014.
But numbers are important as not all aircraft can be in the air all the time and IAF has large areas to scan all around India.
As for the rotodome, Dr Chander explained that the static radars, which scan electronically, have some limitation of a blind area as it is fitted on the fuselage of an aircraft. With a rotating dish – or antenna – it can cover 360 degrees.
The radar being developed by DRDO will have both physical rotation and electronic rotation of the radar waves.
Notably, as both the aircraft are civilian airliners, their maintenance will not be problem as there are a large number of engineering and technical personnel available in India. The choice of payload in terms of weight and configuratioin would eventually help decide the choice of the aircraft as well.
BlackArcherif Pakistan bought the T-50, it would be a kick in the nuts for the JF-17 program.
Technically, from a industrial standpoint, it would be more ideal for them to pursue a two seat JF-17 variant. An official two seat model exists.
but whether it will really happen is questionable.
China sure as hell don’t need it. They don’t even operate the single seater, and trainer needs are met with FTC-200 or that L-15.
does Pakistan realistically have the resources to do it themselves?
that says a lot about what they think of the FC-1 doesn’t it? It should theoretically be cheaper to acquire and operate than the J-10 and since they developed it themselves, they could upgrade it as they see fit and they also have hundreds of obsolete fighters that need to be replaced..so a cost-effective 3rd gen fighter should ideally be bought in large numbers by the PLAAF..yet they don’t want it.
Sign In
