What this also shows is that the French are damn pricey, and very stubborn about it.

This isn’t after all the first time we’re hearing that a deal with Dassault is in danger of being scuttled based mainly on price. There is the costly Greek Mirage-2000 upgrade that Aspis can write paragraphs upon paragraphs upon and then there is the Indian Mirage-2000 upgrade that has been “in price negotiations” for ages. They’ve mucked up Morocco after nearly having the deal finalised and in Brazil too they were the most expensive bidder.

This really doesn’t bode well for the MRCA competition either- if Dassault is always this inflexible when it comes to pricing then we could see MRCA negotiations going on for ages if Dassault ends up being L1 in that tender.

Suddenly, it seems like Saab isn’t quite that silly when they entertain hopes of re-entering the MRCA contest if the Rafale or Typhoon prices don’t work out.

And another critical clarification on the Tejas’ performance, once again on ADA’s Tejas website

Dimensions Weights Aircraft Performance

Take off weight (clean)
9000 kg
Max Speed
Mach 1.6 / 1350 Kmph (CAS)

Take off weight (max)
13200 kg
Max ‘g’
+9 to -3.5

Considering that this website seems new, the data must be latest as well.

some more shots that have never been seen before..

Stunning shot of Tejas Technology Demonstrator TD1

TD1

Never seen before shot of TD2

shot of TD1- from an chase aircraft’s onboard camera

Another shot of TD1- from an chase aircraft’s onboard camera

Radiance of the Tejas

Radiance

TD1

TD1 from up close

TD1

TD2 banking

TD1 soaring

TD2 inverted

Tricolour under the fuselage

more Tejas pics

Tejas’ first night flight

Tejas early morning shot

Final inspection by Cpt Maolankar before the first night sortie

Cpt Maolankar – check out his LUSH (Limited Upgrade of Sea Harrier) patch

heading out

Wrt this :
http://www.sldinfo.com/?p=20614

But that is the sort of technology transfer we could hand over to the Indians so that they can learn how to, if they wish, develop a son of Typhoon or a future combat aircraft with unstable ergonomic capabilities.

If I may say , the Indians would better ask Dassault .

For the Indian industry to come in at this stage is good for India and good for the future evolution of Eurofighter.

Bluewings, the only issue that I have here is the non-cooperative attitude that Dassault has shown even in the past. Does one need to remind you that it was Dassault that chose to walk out of the LCA project way back in 1993 itself when they were unable to convince India to go with the triplex digital with analog backup FCS instead of the quad redundant FCS from the US?

And it has been EADS which has tendered for ADA’s consultancy RFPs that have asked for help with flight testing, weight reduction and N-LCA technical issues. Where has Dassault been when this help was required?

So true . In fact , without India the 2020 Typhoon is more than compromised .
I know that I am pointing at the “cons” and I might get some stick for , but I only quote Mr. Wells .
Now , there is also some good stuff in the paper but we don ‘t learn much …
Wrt “unmanned” , he ‘s talking about an hypothetical Indian design .

One more time , it shows that the Typhoon is a good baseline system and most of the basics have been dealt with . Its potential for upgrades is seen as excellent with a proper funding . It is also said that its current capabilities in AtoG and Recon are basics but we knew that already .
To make it short , the aircraft has some pretention but the program is late .

It is still nowhere capable to fight a War like some other aircraft do .
Not yet .

This Typhoon offer reminds me a lot of the Jaguar purchase. The IAF had already made up its mind that it wanted Jags – its not necessary that they want only Typhoons in this case, but having had DACT against them in multiple Ex Indra-Dhanush, they definitely do like its A2A capabilities.

And the DPSA competition way back then was mostly held just to give the idea that there was a competition. In the MRCA, the Typhoon has made its way into the top 2 despite having some serious shortcomings in the A2G role which a mature Super Hornet didn’t and which isn’t quite as severe in the Rafale. Ok, the Super Hornet was a US platform, which put a seriously large question mark on how much ToT there would be and how much sovereignty the IAF would get to use its MRCA as it wanted.

Back in the early 1980s, the Jaguar was inducted and almost immediately after induction, the part foreign/part indigenous DARIN upgrade began in India, which replaced components that were essentially considered obsolete in a brand new fighter. DARIN 1 upgrade development took a lot of time, but eventually was considered far superior to NAVWASS equipped Jaguars.

A similar situation seems to be developing with the Typhoon- its not fully multi-role. Its not got an AESA as yet but at least its company funded. It has no anti-ship missile, no anti-radiation missile, no stand-off strike missile integrated as yet. All of which were considered required for the MRCA, not necessarily integrated when it’s first batch will be inducted, but a road-map and capability to integrate had to be shown. I’m sure all this is now part of the 80% Indian requirements that Mr Wells refers to.

What I don’t like one bit is that Eurofighter Consortium actually expects India to pay for these capabilities which were mandatory but now are listed as “upgrades”. So, essentially whatever money goes into offsets will in a way pay for developing Typhoon capabilities that all partner nations can then use.

Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) TD2 makes it’s first flight.

Another major milestone was by achieved by India’s state owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). According to our sources the HAL’s flagship helicopter development program Light Combat Helicopter’s (LCH) second prototype TD-2 achieved its first flight at 1500hrs IST. This a major boost for the program as this prototype is expected to be a weaponized version.

The nature of this test flight is not yet clear but it is believed that the helicopter made low level hover similar to first test flight of LCH TD-1. The TD-2 also has lots of Indian Army specific inputs like the revolutionary digital camouflage. Also the TD-2 is 100kgs lighter than the TD-1. TD-2 is also equipped with a fully functional target acquisition and pilots vision pod a feature which was not seen in TD-1.

link

What would happen if the IAF were to designate the MRCA winner as a nuclear platform and seek data from the manufacturer to allow it to integrate the nuclear bombs on existing weapon racks on the Typhoon/Rafale?

In the past, Jaguars were tested and found unsuitable for India’s atomic bombs (due to lower ground clearance) and Mirage-2000s were tested and operationalised as the nuclear delivery platforms. Neither manufacturer raised any issues in this matter (maybe they weren’t aware of it) but now that India is a declared nuclear power, it may well look to directly ask the manufacturers about the suitability of their fighter being a nuclear platform.

Since the Rafale is already the French nuclear platform along with the Mirage-2000N, we know its designed to be able to withstand electromagnetic impulses after a nuclear weapon detonates, but what about the Typhoon ? Which manufacturer may be more reliable in providing help and support for developing the MRCA as the IAF’s next nuclear strike platform?

Here you have the Air Chief calling it “an excellent plane”, “I am very very positive on the Tejas”, “those who fly it swear by it” and so forth, and yet we have this silly nitpicking on Generations! And yet, even there has clarified noting the LCA has “some of the latest technologies” and “it is a 4G plane currently” and will be “4 Generation plus” by FOC. And now we have, he has not called it 4G enough times.

What should he do, hold interviews every day, and call it by what the internet expects him to do, as versus compare it to the aircraft it is replacing?

Should he now call the LCA a mini Su-30 MKI or a downsized F-22, because nothing else would satisfy our internet community apparently, no matter how bizarre it sounds.

😀 😀

even that would not satisfy some of our resident know-it-alls.

I thought that when ACM PV Naik said “every one who has flown it swears by it that its a wonderful aircraft”, that basically settled the issue. After all, this guy is one tough customer and for him to say that basically vindicates what test pilots have said- right from Grp Cpt Tyagi, Grp Capt N Harish to Grp Capt George Thomas- that it is a wonderful aircraft to fly.

I mean considering that the test pilots who’ve flown it are all very experienced hands, from Su-30MKI pilots to Mirage-2000, MiG-29, Sea Harrier, Jaguar and MiG-21 pilots, there should be little question as to how qualified they are to make that judgement.

To then have one internet poster claim that there must be more to it than meets the eye merely because he calls it a MiG-21++ (which logically means a 4th gen fighter, but logic is not everyone’s forte), IMO reveals a deep seated inferiority complex- one that will very rarely question a foreigner’s word on how good their product is, but chooses to ignore a very clear statement on the LCA being a 4th gen fighter that is finally getting the full backing of the IAF.