Well the french source (secret defense blog from Jean-Dominique Merchet) stated a price difference of around 15% to 20% quoting french sources and the Indian article is saying between 22% and 25% price difference.

Jean Dominique Merchet made a new article when those latest “indian” figures were released stating that the difference was even more important than he was told :

corrected article after indian figures 22% to 25% :
http://www.marianne2.fr/blogsecretdefense/Le-Rafale-est-bien-moins-cher-que-le-Typhoon–assurent-les-Indiens_a521.html
first article with 15% to 20% difference :
http://www.marianne2.fr/blogsecretdefense/Inde-le-Rafale-etait-15-a-20-moins-cher-que-l-Eurofighter_a514.html

Jackoniko,

Price is certainly an important factor in the process but don’t you think that there is more in this ?

Look if you think about it for a second awarding the mirage 2000 upgrade and mica deal was certainly not neutral and a rather strange allocation of money without a rafale choice…I am puzzled that no “international” aviation journalist have not look more closely about the link of the mirage upgrade package and the rafale deal. As some indian reports suggested it could have bean a way to undercut the typhoon bidding by a significant margin.

If this is true it means that the IAF simply preferred the rafale and ensured that it was the certain winner. Given the timing this explanation is realistic.

As far as I am concerned I firmly believe that the IAF felt more comfortable with the rafale from the beginning. I will not debate the performance aspect of things as both were deemed compliant but the political aspect of the deal.

It seems that France was regarded as a safer partner than a consortium both for ToT and the absence of control as shown in the Kargil war. It is interesting to note that the letter sent by european government specifically addressed spare part availability in case of conflicts….

In my opinion this article is the most relevant account of the true reason of the rafale choice.

The Real Reasons for Rafale’s Indian Victory
Defense Aerospace, Feb 1

PARIS — While many observers cite technology transfer, prices and performance as being major factors in India’s selection of the Rafale as its next-generation fighter, reality is very different even if these factors obviously did play a significant role.

In the same way that it is true that Rafale lost several competitions through no fault of its own, it must be recognized that its victory in India was also won, to a great extent, through no fault of its own. The real reason for its victory is political, and the long memory of Indian politicians was a major contributing factor.

This is not to say, however, that Rafale’s own impressive qualities had nothing to do with its selection. The Indian Air Force, which was extensively briefed by the French air force in the autumn, was particularly impressed by its operational performance during the Libyan bombing campaign and in Afghanistan. Rafale also has a naval variant which could be of future interest to India, given its plans to buy and build aircraft carriers, while the recent decision to upgrade India’s Mirage 2000H fighters will simplify the air force’s logistics chain, as these will share with Rafale many weapons and other equipment.

The Indian Air Force also is a satisfied user of long standing of French fighters, going back to the Dassault Ouragan in the 1950s. It was also particularly appreciative of the performance of its Mirages during the 1999 Kargil campaign against Pakistan, and of the support it then obtained from France. During that campaign, India obtained French clearance – and possibly more – to urgently adapt Israeli and Russian-supplied laser-guided bombs to the Mirages, which thus able to successfully engage high-altitude targets that Indian MiG-23s and MiG-27s had been unable to reach.

Rafale was preferred because of lower costs, and the Indian air force’s familiarity with French warplanes such as the Mirage, Bloomberg reported Feb. 1 quoting an Indian source who asked not be named. “Unit-wise, the French plane is much cheaper than the Eurofighter. Moreover, the Indian air force, which is well equipped with French fighters, is favouring the French,” the source said.

To Indian officials, France’s steadfastness as a military ally contrasted strongly with that of the United States, which stopped F-16 deliveries to Pakistan (but kept the money) when it found it expedient to do so, and slowed or vetoed delivery of components for Light Combat Aircraft that India was developing. And, of course, the 1998 arms embargo, decreed by the US after India’s nuclear test in May of that year, left a very bad taste in Indian mouths. France, on the contrary, was the only Western nation not to impose sanctions.

That, Indian sources say, was New Delhi’s real reason for eliminating Boeing and Lockheed Martin from the fighter competition; India has resolved, these sources say, to buy only second-line equipment from the U.S., such as transport (C-17, C-130J) or maritime patrol aircraft (P-8I). Vital weapons such as missiles and fighters, when they cannot be locally produced, will remain the preserve of France and Russia.

Political considerations were also a significant factor playing against Rafale’s final competitor, the Eurofighter Typhoon. As this aircraft is produced by a consortium of four nations, each with different foreign policies and different attitudes and tolerances to arms exports, Indian officials were a bit nervous about their ultimate reliability as a single supplier.

Germany is a long-standing Indian aviation partner, and a respected role model for Indian politicians, many of whom were educated there. German companies – essentially the former Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm, now part of EADS – helped Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. develop both the LCA and the Advanced Light Helicopter, now called Dhruv. These links were the reason the Eurofighter bid was led by Germany’s Cassidian, and not BAE Systems, the former colonial power. But Germany had dithered over technology transfer for LCA, soft-pedaled on ALH tech transfer when German pacifists raised their eyebrows, and coughed when India almost went to war with Pakistan over Kargil and Kashmir, so in the final analysis it could not be considered a reliable supplier of major weapons.

Italy has never sold a major weapon to India, and so could bring neither influence nor reputation to support Eurofighter, while the third partner, Spain, is totally absent from the Indian military landscape.

This left BAE Systems as the best-known Eurofighter partner in India, and so by default as its ultimate public face. BAE in 2003 sold £1.5 billion’s worth of Hawk jet trainers to India, with a follow-on, £500 million order in 2010. However, its previous major sale to India was the Jaguar light attack aircraft in the 1970s. In fact, this aircraft was jointly developed by Britain and France on a 50/50 basis, and while it was license-produced by HAL it was never really successful as a fighter. Furthermore, France could claim as much benefit from its Indian career as BAE.

Taken together, the Eurofighter partner nations posed an even thornier problem: in case of war, German law prohibits deliveries of weapons and spares, Italian law and public opinions would demand an embargo, which Spanish legislation is murky. What would happen, Indian politicians must have wondered, if after buying the Eurofighter they went to war? Would spares and weapons be forthcoming, or would they be embargoed? The political risk was obviously too big to take.

Weapons also played a significant role in persuading India to opt for Rafale: not only is its weapons range mostly French-made, and thus not subject to a third-party embargo, but so are all of its sensors. Eurofighter, whose air-to-air missiles include the US-made AIM-120 Amraam and the German-led IRIS-T, and whose primary air-to-ground weapon is the US-made Paveway, was obviously at a competitive disadvantage in this respect.

Furthermore, the Rafale is nuclear-capable and will replace the Mirage 2000N in French service as the carrier of the newly-upgraded ASMP/A nuclear stand-off missile; it is also capable of firing the AM-39 Exocet missile, giving it an anti-ship capability that its competitors do not have. India is also interested in fitting its BrahMos supersonic missile to a wide range of its combat aircraft, and Rafale could apparently carry it.

Given that India had sworn to buy the cheapest compliant competitor, it would have been unable to justify picking the Rafale had this not been offered at the lower price. While official figures have not been released, and indeed may never be, initial reports from New Delhi claim that Rafale was offered at a unit price of $4-$5 million less than Eurofighter, which is a surprisingly large advantage given the French aircraft’s reputation of being high-priced.
[…]

Just to say that I think you are looking too closely the precise term of the bidding process but forgetting a more “political” analysis of the indian choice despite their claim of being neutral in that regard. This part is lacking in your article of the telegraph, just like english official seem completely blind about the ties between france and india.

I think some put to much assumption and emotion in what I meant to say. It was not meant to be a frontal attack on JL but just to show that his bias toward the typhoon is something that you can find in every country. I did not say that this is something to blame and I just tried to give another point of view which I don’t claim to be the “absolute truth”. Hardly something extraordinary and disrespectful so no need to overreact.

The issue with Jackoniko/Jon Lake is that they are a bit delusional over this alleged “better potential”.

First of all one should remark that every major country believe their jet is the best so it brings just another “ethnocentric” point of view with no originality.

-Take french pilots point of view (Grandclaudon, Captain Romain) or recently french chief of staff and for them it makes no doubt that the rafale is the superior aircraft even in air to air.

General Palomeros: “The Rafale is the best aircraft in the world”

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?137433-Rafale-News/page210

-Take US recent declaration on the Rafale choice and suddenly they are the best.

As for the so called “experts” an argument which is often turned to pass your own wishes you can also find better sources like in switzerland in the voice of high raked officers :

The Helvetic Confederation prefer the Gripen for reasons of price … against the advice of military

(…)

Fernand Carrel, the former commander of the Swiss Air Force, regretted the choice of the Federal Council. “All experts know that the Rafale is the best,” he said on Radio Suisse Romande.

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?137433-Rafale-News/page182

Not to mention that the rafale topped the typhoon in swiss evlauation while air superiority was the main deriver or french sources usually says the rafale is 10 to 15% cheaper than a typhoon. One could also mention that the rafale did better than the typhoon in every competition they faced together.

Just to say that the major weakness from Jackonoko/Jon Lake articles is that they can’t accept that there are other point of views and that there is no “enshrined truth”. As long as they are living with this ethnocentric bias they will go from a delusion from another.

On top of being a typical ethnocentric article it fails to see some other reasons that could have lead to a typhoon defeat like political aspects :

The Real Reasons for Rafale’s Indian Victory
(…)
Political considerations were also a significant factor playing against Rafale’s final competitor, the Eurofighter Typhoon. As this aircraft is produced by a consortium of four nations, each with different foreign policies and different attitudes and tolerances to arms exports, Indian officials were a bit nervous about their ultimate reliability as a single supplier.
(…)

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?137433-Rafale-News/page211

Then for the final round of negotiation between France and India I believe there are several reasons to be optimistic.

1) Dassault has a long habit of negotiating with the indians and it appears they had more margin than Typhoon Gmbh who have made “monstrous sacrifices” (dixit la tribune) to compete with the rafale offer.

2) Difference in price with the Typhoon is said to be significant so unless they have completely messed up their pricing and negotiation round its hard to believe that the Typhoon will suddenly become more competitive.

3) Political partnership with france is safer (see article “the real reason of rafale victory”)

4) In terms of logistics with the rest of IAF fighter fleet it makes more sense after the mirage 2000/mica deal. Also the pricy upgrade is said to have been a way to boost rafale offer competitiveness.

5) A possible UAE or Brazil win which are becoming more likely in the coming months will give Dassault even more margin and credibility in the negotiation phase.