I don’t believe that these commonalities will impact either proposal by a significant amount, because at the end of the day, IAF Mirage fleet is just 50 odd planes strong. The equipment for stuff like testing, maintenance etc is totally different in many cases from what would be used for Rafale etc. Its also been indigenized and sourced from local vendors in some cases.

Point is, remember, when the MMRCA deal started, there were concerns about the quantum of investment required? These were because it was recognised both types would require significant investment by themselves. New training, documentation, ground handling equipment, base infrastructure, test facilities elsewhere, etc etc.

Also, I dont believe that commonalities in weapons etc will also impact costs for each bid itself. Weapons packages for all types are negotiated separately. Some Rafale supporters have believed that because IAF negotiated for the Mirage 2000 package, that will help Rafale. Well, yes, in terms of commonly used weapons, sure – but at the end of the day, thats an addition but not the main deal by itself because the weapons package for each MMRCA bid are part of the proposal itself and for those 126 or 189 planes. Not dependent on using existing or previously negotiated weapons.

When the Mirage 2000s were first procured, an IAF person went on record stating that the infrastructure (he probably meant basing etc) could technically handle upto 100 Mirages, not just fifty.

But all said and done, the Rafale is no Mirage 2000-5. It will come with significantly different systems in several cases. Yes, some may be common and help IAF, but its not likely to be the decider for the bid.

In some ways, similar to the debate about how choosing the EJ-200 for LCA MK2 would help EF for the MMRCA. Ultimately, MOD and IAF treated it like a completely different proposal.

All I can say is though, the Army needs to learn from the IAF which has managed to work the MOD system enough to get multi billion procurement after procurement through the door. Whether it be C-17s or the Mirage 2000 upgrade or now the MMRCA in the works..

In contrast, the Army cannot even run a single artillery program. It procurement is a shambles.

Teer, always a pleasure to read your posts. Especially on this thread, which has seen a lot of baseless speculation and poor posts..

Those Su-30s look awful MiG-29 like 😉

edited ! I don’t know what I was thinking when i wrote Su-30MKIs..:D

Typhoons chances of winning in Japan is greater than in India…No offence to Typhoon fans but this is the way I see it..

why is that ? Japan has a very strong alliance relationship with the US which makes the Typhoon a long shot at best..no such thing in India and now we know that its price offer isn’t that far from the Rafale’s..IMO, the Indian competition is the one where the Typhoon’s chances are the brightest.

Reverse engineering a rubber duck is not the same as reverse engineering a fighter plane, and this isn’t strictly and purely reverse engineering but a whole lot of “how can we do it better” put into the mix…

still reverse engineering is reverse engineering where they basically strip down the fighter and copy it piece by piece, in the simplest terms. pretending that its the most difficult thing or that it means doing everything over again like it was for the original is pure falsehood. But I guess everyone except our dear Chinese fanboys know that.

And now more speculation ! I wonder if this holds any water..

link to article

bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Cannes on the sidelines of the G-20 summit could not take place on Friday thereby leading to speculation that France has lost the race for the `48,000 crore MMRCA deal.

The two leaders were expected to meet at about 10 am (IST) and the meeting was rescheduled for 1 pm. However, the time was again was changed to 4.00 pm and finally the two leaders could not meet. While this scheduling and rescheduling was going on in France, the defence ministry opened the bids for the MMRCA at about 3.00 p.m. in New Delhi. Rafale(France) and Eurofighter(consortium of UK, Germany, Spain and Italy) are the two contenders for the mega deal and their unit prices were announced by the defence ministry in the presence of the representatives of the two competitors.

While the defence ministry and two contenders refrained to talk to media about the price issue, the stakeholders informed their respective governments about the proceedings of the bid opening meeting, sources said.

Btw , how many fighters can do buddy-buddy refueling , doing it routinely ?

How about the Su-30MKI and the MiG-29K?

Su-30MKI with Mirage-2000

BTW, a blow to the Eurofighter consortium..Typhoon knocked out of the Japanese F-X competition..perhaps Dassault were wise to not even invest any effort in what was considered to be firm US territory?

link to article

Next-gen fighter to be decided between two US jets in November
2011/10/23

The Eurofighter Typhoon flies home (Source: Eurofighter)

The next-generation successor (F-X) to the Air Self-Defense Forces’ F-4 fighter will be determined in November. From three US and European fighters, the Ministry of Defense has narrowed down the competition by one, moving into a showdown between the two US-made fighters, the F-35 and F/A-18.
The F-X will become the cornerstone of the defense of Japanese airspace, and it needs to be high performance and to some extent allowed to be produced domestically, moreover, it will be an important factor in the alliance and relations with the US.

So the F/A-18E/F will be in competition with the F-35 now..that will be interesting !:D