Hearty congratulations to Saab, Sweden and all Swedish posters here! The Gripen NG was the best choice for the Swiss, considering the threat level and the price for the other contenders.

Issue is they want it as future Hornet replacement, too. In the long run they aim at single type fleet. Benchmark therefore ist the F-18.
Gripen scored lower then the benchmark (F-18) in some categories.

That was most likely due to the fact that the Gripen C/D was evaluated. If the Swiss evaluate the Gripen NG, the scores for the Swedish fighter will definitely be better. The only problem will be whether the Gripen NG will be in production when its time to replace the F/A-18s. Sadly, it does seem rather unlikely.

Rafale poor showing in Libya may have prompted UAE to say it is unworkable. before they were giving benefit of doubt to this underpowered aircraft but not now.

really ?!! :D:D:D:D

During that time period, fighters were designed for 7.33 Gs, not 9+Gs like today’s airplanes. Lower Gs mean less loads to be carried = lighter structure. There have been instances where individual airplanes have exceeded 10 Gs and held together due to the hefty margins. But those were one time exceedance and required extensive inspection afterwards.

so the F-15C/D/SE are basically certified to 7.33Gs and not 9Gs ? That’s news to me..So they started designing them to withstand 9Gs with the F-16?

Don’t help its L1 prospects.

who says that Dassault would’ve offered the Rafale to the IAF at the same price as a deal where only 22 were required?

That’s truly ridiculous.:eek:

Seven years?! Why would it take that long for HAL to set up an assembly line? Can’t they assemble the initial batches from kits?

If it’s a question of not having enough manpower/production capacity, then can’t the govt set aside the Socialist monopoly policy for the IAF’s sake and let a private sector firm licence-build the MMRCAs in partnership with the winner?

This is what AK Antony must have meant when he said those ancient MiG-21s would keep flying till 2017. No relief in sight thanks to this drawn-out circus of procurement.:mad:

One correction- its not 7 years for the first MRCA to roll out. the contract if signed in 2012, 2017 would be 5 years from contract signature.

if we look at the Hawk and Su-30MKI assembly lines, they produced their first jets within 4 years of the contract for ToT being signed. So assuming that they can get the contract signatures done by mid-2012, the first MRCA fighter from SKD kits should roll out of HAL’s assembly line by 2016.

Back in the early 1970s when the F-15 was designed, stress engineers did their work with pencil and paper. We applied a 25% safety margin and didn’t worry about fatigue, thinking the margin would suffice.

Phased inspections for old jets are important, looking for tipped rivets and cracks, both signs signs of structural fatigue.

Then how was it that the F-15’s airframe didn’t end up being overweight? 25% margins are quite big.

May not be a non starter but pretty much a delayed starter. Wake everyone up when it flies.

😉

What’ll you do when it flies? Promise us to stop sleeping – like how you promised us about not making “educated guesses” ??:D