On air-defense , Xav posted this remarquable video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2zdNzmBanQ&feature=player_embedded#!

Full of insights , we learn some interesting bits .

Cheers .

That was Indian defence correspondent Maroof Raza..he has a good reputation amongst the defence correspondents in India. He stated what most of us who have followed the MRCA contest for years, already know. Nevertheless, it is good insight for people looking in who may not know as much.

ACM (retd) FM Major’s comments say it all for the IAF.

I can’t find the link now, but Raytheon reportedly offered to pay for JSOW and AMRAAM integration.
Dassault are fine with this. (They wanted to integrate AMRAAM for the Korean competition.)

Would be very interesting if that were true- the IAF would be able to order AIM-120C7 or AIM-120D models at lower prices than were paid for the MICAs for the Mirages. And smaller numbers of Meteors may be purchased as a result (also an expensive weapon). But the JSOW offer would be truly interesting..

YIPEEEE !!!

My favourite fighter of the lot won !! 😀 Congratulations to fellow Indians, to Dassault, Frenchmen and foremost to the IAF. They got what they wanted !

Where are those who were saying that India couldn’t select its MRCA and that we’d have to wait another 2 years!!:p

uh those two KAI concepts are anything BUT light.

you want light? this is light

Well, India’s Light Combat Heli (LCH) is only 100 kgs heavier empty than the Kawasaki OH-1 but has a MTOW of 5700 kgs as opposed to the 4000 kgs of the OH-1 and carries a GIAT Industries Nexter M621 20 mm cannon that gives it a lot more firepower.

This could’ve been a program where South Korea and India could’ve worked together, using the LCH (which itself is derived from the proven Dhruv ALH) as the base platform for a Korean light attack heli.

Appart from the obius India, Brazil or UAE. I mean what happen to Rafale, if it looses those three? Exept that france struggle on..?
Who else have a bigger budget and needs something in this neabourhood before 2025?
I dont think Greece will buy anything this expensive in this timespan. The blackhole in its economy have never been seen on this side of the moon.
Malaysia is to small order for a Rafale system, but who knows?
Korea?
Old mirage customer?

Taiwan could be a good possible customer, but France lacks the gonads to **** off China.

makes me wonder why India did not just go dump their Mirage 2000’s for Gripens. Similar size and capabilities, but the Gripen is more flexible with more types of systems and weapons, newer, and more growth potential.

Because the Gripen NG was considered as a MRCA aircraft and didn’t make the cut.

And because the Mirage-2000 has an extensive infrastructure and training setup in the IAF, as well as maintenance setup at HAL, which no new aircraft will have obviously.. and no having that adds to the cost and time taken before any new aircraft ever achieves full operational capability with a new customer. So if the IAF had replaced the 51 Mirages with 51 Gripen NGs, they would’ve cost as much as the cost that Norway was supposedly asked for. Besides, India doesn’t use any of the weapons that the Gripen comes with, which would mean additional costs anyway.

Maybe they should pitch this aircraft to the UAE and to Taiwan which have large Mirage fleets. With India, the only hope is if the Typhoon and Rafale are too expensive and the competition is opened up once again..even then it may be a very very long shot.

Since we’re all awaiting the decision, there’s nothing else to do but idle speculation (unless someone has insider info and chooses to reveal everything here). Which includes such as “what if the Indians suddenly decided that the F-35 is awesome and they’d rather buy it”.
Besides, now that Duke Nukem Forever’s actually out, the internet can use a new running joke, even temporarily. At least it relieves that unbearable tension of waiting… and waiting… and waiting… and “have they decided yet ?”. Me, I’d rather the bloody thing was finished already. Whichever plane’s selected…

Speculate on who will win and why, but the kind of speculation you made would only come from someone who hasn’t the foggiest idea about how hard the IAF has been trying to get the MRCA and its 2 chosen contenders through to the end. It is something some random internet poster who just whiffles by this thread once in a week and doesn’t see a conclusion would suggest. the fact of the matter is that ever since the actual flight trials began, they have kept to the deadlines as far as they could considering the magnitude of the deal and the fact that much of what they’re doing now is considerably new for them.

Who cares what you wish for or whether you want it done fast or not. This contest is not for your amusement and if you’re bored of it dragging too long then go find another one to read up on..the Malaysian one or the UAE ones may amuse you more. Besides, you’re not the customer- the IAF is. For the IAF a lot is at stake and they won’t risk taking it lightly and having losing contender drag them to court just because they pushed it through too fast and overlooked some detail.

In two years time we’ll still be saying “two weeks, real soon !” I bet…

And if they do announce a L1 in the contest soon enough, what will you do? I mean what have you got to lose if the bet doesn’t go your way? perhaps stop making posts that don’t have any substance but add noise to this thread?