Personally I think a factor in favor of Rafale is if the Indians DON’T buy it the French may offer it to the Pakistanis. OTOH the Eurofighter consortium is unlikely to sell to Pakistan.

its one thing to offer it- its quite another for Pakistan to be able to afford Rafales in any significant number at all.

More news on the Tejas’ night flying trials

The LCA Tejas programme clocked significant trial points this week with one of the limited series production (LSP-5) aircraft undertook a series of six flights at night. Sporting a modified Israeli-Indian hybrid multimode radar and a Litening pod, the LSP-5 is reported to have conducted mock targeting and attack drill to test simulated avionics release and integration of weapons and sensors. Night flights will continue for the next two weeks.

The DRDO put out a statement to the press in Bengaluru yesterday saying, “The preliminary results indicate that the integrated system performed very well, meeting the requirements of night operations.” The statement also said that the flights tested the helmet mounted display and instrument landing system.

link

One of the interesting things that emerge from this shortlist is that one of the prime fears of both EADS and Dassault bosses that twin engine heavies were being compared to lighter single engined fighters was unfounded. I recall Charles Edelsteinne complaining some years ago that the Rafale was being compared to the F-16 and the Gripen which were cheaper to acquire upfront as well as in their life cycle costs, but had lesser payload and range capabilities. That meant that no benefit was gained by being able to exceed RFP requirements (which he claimed all 6 would meet comfortably), which would make the Typhoon and Rafale uncompetitive based on price. And he was worried that this excess capability would not be taken into consideration when making the choice by simply ticking boxes against minimum capability levels. His concern was shared by Bernhard Gerwert as well, but addressed by the IAF which said that the benefits of being twin engined and having capabilities in excess of what was stipulated by the RFP would be taken into account. This was clarified by Gerwert in a later interview.

And that is exactly what appears to have happened, with the Rafale and Typhoon’s excellent aerodynamic performance and growth potential winning those top spots in the evaluation. The IAF seems to have gone with the premise that while you can make an excellent dogfighter a good bomber by adding avionics and sensors and integrating A2G ordnance, you cannot do the opposite (something that Boeing tried to redress by adding the EPE engine to the MRCA proposal). And so, a premium has been put on sheer kinematic performance which put the Rafale and Typhoon ahead of the SHornet. The MiG-35 might have done well in this regard too, but its relative lack of sophistication, poorer MMI, lack of data fusion and possibly even less capable or mature sensors compared to the Eurocanards and the IAF’s desire to not be the sole operator of that type for the next 40 years might have sealed its fate. And from the IAF’s Su-30MKI attrition experience (only 1 has been lost due to engine trouble over more than a decade of operations) compared to their other single engined fighters’ (MiG-21, 23, 27 and even the Mirage-2000), the IAF believes that operating from bird strike prone airbases, the redundancy offered by twin engine jets was a must, even if it meant higher operating costs over 40 years. Plus the fact that as airplanes age, their attrition rates start going up and here the twin engine jets again have a higher chance of survival.

The PLAAF’s fleet of fighters like the J-11 and J-10 played a hand in the IAF’s thinking that they would only recommend the 2 top twin engined fighters, rather than letting a single engined fighter get in the mix and win on the basis of L1 cost alone. And this coincides with the RFPs for the long-range AAM and long-range standoff strike missile RFPs which were released sometime recently. Essentially, these give the IAF the weapons to defend against PLAAF fighters and the PAF’s F-16 Block 52+.

And what this means is that now Dassault cannot hide behind excuses that its price vs capability made it fail to win the competition. After all, its competition is the Typhoon, which is even costlier upfront. This truly is Dassault’s competition to lose and France must put in all efforts and every type of incentive to try to win this deal. After all, 126 firm orders + 63 options is a HUGE order, one that they cannot possibly get anywhere else and one that would possibly secure the Rafale more international orders as compared to what would happen if France remains its sole operator. If they mess this one up, it might possibly seal the Rafale’s fate as far as exports go.

Same goes for EADS too. Both Dassault and EADS can no longer hide behind excuses of American political pressure leading to losses. This is purely down to how far they’ll go to make their offer more attractive, in terms of offsets, ToT and participation in other programs that might be desired by India.

My guess is that whoever loses this one will be the favourite for the P-75I submarine competition. There, they will be pushed by the Russians too, but HDW and DCNS are prime contenders and whichever nation loses the MRCA might well be compensated there. Just a guess.

I don’t know which one I’d prefer to see in IAF colours..the thought of either one in IAF colours is truly awesome !:D

But the Rafale is the more mature overall, has a naval version available and might well be slightly cheaper than the Typhoon. The Typhoon may have a slight edge in A2A combat, but who knows what the IAF found in its evaluations. Eitherway, I’m thrilled since I have 2 models of the Typhoon and Rafale twin seaters ready, without decals on..:diablo:

Tejas completes first phase of night flying, testing out its radar, HMD and ILS

Tejas sensors checked out during night flying
Bangalore, Apr 27, (PTI):

The indigenous Light Combat Aircraft- Tejas, fitted with advanced sensors like Multi Mode Radar (MMR), Litening Pod (Day and Night imaging sensors), was checked out during night flying, Defence Research and Development Organisation said today.

These sensors when integrated with the on board weapon system, makes it a potent multi-role combat aircraft, a DRDO statement said. The first phase of the night evaluation in which six night flight sorties were conducted was held yesterday, it said.

“The preliminary results indicate that the integrated system performed very well, meeting the requirements of night operations. Flight trials were conducted by the National Flight Test Centre at ADA (Aeronautical Development Agency)”, the statement said.

In addition, the avionics suit includes the state of the art Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS) and Instrument Landing System (ILS), it said. To prove Tejas’s night operational capability, all these systems needed to be tested and evaluated following a detailed flight test programme during night flying in moon phase as well as dark phase, it said.

LSP-5 aircraft, which has the required cockpit lighting standard to support night flying, was used for these trials, the statement added. The night flying was started after a series of ground evaluations of the integrated system in static as well as taxi phase under different lighting conditions, it said.

With the conclusion of the first phase of night evaluations, the mood is upbeat in ‘Team Tejas’. Success of the current phase of trials augurs well for achieving night attack capability for Tejas in the near future, it said.

Tejas sensors tested during night flying

The official shortlist will be out on April 28th it seems. And if its true that the US fighters were rejected, then kudos to Defence Minister AK Antony. He promised that politics would not play a part in this mega deal and if only the twin jet Eurocanards made the list then that is most likely true.

link to AW article

The Indian government has named the final candidates in its Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program.

The MMRCA competition keeps the Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale in the mix. Saab confirms the Gripen has been eliminated.

Industry officials indicate the other three contestants, the Boeing F/A-18E/F, Lockheed Martin F-16 and MiG-35, also have been eliminated, although India is not formally to announce the line up until April 28.

If both U.S. fighter are cut, it would be a big blow to Washington, which had aggressively courted India with technology release promises. Furthermore, the two U.S. contenders were the only ones with fielded active, electronically scanned array radars, which India says it wants.

The government will now evaluate industrial and commercial terms before naming a final winner in several months.

Psst. Sarcasm.

Oops. Sorry. I didn’t get that. 😀