Fortunately, not a Chinese at least, most of Chinese are wise more than me.

well, he claims to be from Chengdu but settled in Canada..that makes him Chinese.

oh gee the saga continues :rolleyes:

What “saga continues” ? Did you even read the article before rolling your eyes ?

HAL is simply inviting bids to build the new manufacturing complex for the MRCA. This is the logical next step in the process since HAL needs to build a new assembly plant for the MRCA and if things go as planned then by late 2014 the plant should be ready. Well in time for HAL to begin all the work related to transfer of Rafale documentation and jigs/fixtures and tooling for assembly to begin in 2016.

Bangalore, March 25:

Defence aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has invited bids to build a new design and manufacturing complex in Bangalore for MMRCA fighter planes.

The facility is estimated to cost Rs 360 crore and is to be completed two years from the award date.

..

HAL plans to locate it at Challaghatta where it has large tracts of land. The integrated ‘green’ factory complex will include hangars, runways and residential units.

The area is close to the old international airport, which was closed to commercial flights in May 2008.

..

IMHO the JF-17 may have the edge upto 15k and then the gripen has the edge. Also, (again just guessing) the JF-17 may have the better instantaneous turn rates and the Gripen the better sustained turn rates. (possible but then the wing area says the opposite). Probably very closely matched although using different methods to get their sustained and instantaneous turn rates. Overall I think the Gripen has the edge.

On what basis are you making these guesses? Does the JF-17 have a lower wing loading than the Gripen does? What would make the JF-17’s ITR better than that of the Gripen?

Please provide some solid evidence rather than just guessing that the JF-17 may be better than the Gripen that is advertised as having an ITR of 30 deg/sec, STR of 20 deg/sec and roll rate of 240 deg/sec.

India readies to select its next mid-air refueller

link to Economic times article

NEW DELHI: India is readying to select the winner of the $2-billion tender for six mid-air refuelers for its air force, with both the contending planes from European consortium EADS Airbus and Russian Ilyushin clearing the flight trials.

According to informed sources, the Indian defence ministry is now considering the bids to arrive at the lowest bidder in the tender issued in September 2010. India is looking for six refuelers.

The tender had been reissued by the government after the Airbus’ A330MRTT was selected by the Indian Air Force as the winner of an earlier tender in 2009.

But the finance ministry objected to the “high cost” for the A330MRTT. So the tender was cancelled in January 2010.

“After three trials in November, we have been informed that we are compliant with the specifications mentioned in the tender,” Airbus Defence Capability Marketing vice president Ian Elliot told reporters here.

Ilyushin too has been found complaint, the sources said.

Asked about the finance ministry objections during the previous tendering process, Elliot said the concerns were relating to “capital investment cost.”

But now, the lowest bidder for the tender will be worked out on the basis of life cycle cost of operating the plane over several decades.

During flight trials, Airbus had demonstrated midair refueling of Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi-30 and Jaguar combat planes on its A330MRTT.

It also similarly demonstrated refueling of Mirage-2000s while contesting the United Arab Emirates tender. India has a fleet of nearly 50 Mirage-2000s. India also has a six-aircraft fleet of IL-78s.

Did the SAAF ever intend to acquire an IRST with their Gripen C/Ds ? This article implies that they might have, considering that it mentions the IR-OTIS

The Gripen has also been designed to mount an infrared search and track (IRST) system for passive acquisition and
tracking of aerial targets, giving the obvious and very real advantage of not announcing to the target aircraft that it has been acquired and is being tracked.

The IRST system will be integrated with the helmet sight to alert and cue the pilot, and can be used to cue the radar and the aircraft’s missiles. The system being developed for the Gripen is the Saab IR-OTIS, an imaging IR system that can be used to identify a target. It will be mounted in a dome on the nose ahead of the cockpit.

If not the IR-OTIS, perhaps they may be interested in the Selex Skywards-NG being developed for the Gripen NG? Would that be feasible?

I dont think the engines of that particular MIG is replaced. you can see that JF-17 afterburner on but not that much smoke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzY-TXqQG24

It was replaced with the RD-33 Ser.3 engine in place of the earlier RD-33.

Mirage-2000 fleet grounded due to engine concerns. Snecma assisting in finding the issue.

link

After two successive crashes that have been pinned down to engine failure, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has grounded its fleet of Mirage 2000 fighters even as a French technical team has arrived to help probe the accidents. The front line fleet of 49 fighters, some of which are also assigned a nuclear delivery role, have been on the ground for the past ten days and will only fly after further safety checks.

The entire fleet was grounded after the recent crash on March 5 in Rajasthan when a trainer version of the aircraft went down after the engine cut off in mid flight. The crash was similar to the one that took place last month when another trainer version of the Mirage 2000 went down even as an Air Marshal who was at the controls managed to eject safely.

Sources said that a team from Snecma, the engine manufacturers of the French fighters, is presently in India to help the IAF team in its investigation. The two successive crashes have come as a major setback for the IAF that has maintained a very good safety record for the Mirage 2000 fleet with the last crash taking place in 2004.

It is learnt that among other lines of investigation, possible defects in the Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) system that controls the power plant are also being probed. The computer controlled system governs all aspects of engine performance. While this is not a known problem in the fleet, it is being probed as both crashes took place due to engine trouble.

Sources said that the fighters will be allowed to fly only after technical checks rule out a larger problem that affects the entire fleet. As reported, in last month’s crash involving Air Marshal Anil Chopra the engine cut off mid flight and did not re engage even after the pilots tried to restart it several times. After successive attempts, both were ordered to eject as the fighter lost altitude.