Algeria: Bouteflika, Hollande, Rafale and armament

French President François Hollande, who is due in Algiers tomorrow (19/12/12), is said to be expected to talk with his Algerian counterpart Abdulaziz Bouteflika about Algeria concluding a deal for the Dassault Rafale aircraft.

Rafale and NH90 meet

Of course, those may be stupid outdated commercial claims. But today, in 2012, AdA pilots give their opinion too.
And according to them, Rafale RCS is low enough to compensate superior radar ranges of SHornet or Typhoon, and help them infiltrate various airspaces with the help of Spectra and various tactics.

I understand and accept any scepticism, but I try to help you understand why we don’t pay too much attention to the R-probe problem.

It’s been quite some time since aircraft haven’t being used to kick the door of any major conflicts. Cruise missiles, and tomorrow drones are the real door or corridor opener.

Providing UCAV do work properly, they’ll be the one used to open corridors in modern and future high end IADS.

Rafale as well as other 4th gen aircraft will have a role to play long into the future, as they’re in the end far more sustainable than current 5th gen aircraft.

Other aircraft vying for a contract from the Canadian Government

New fighter process aims to prevent favouritism

The Conservative government’s rebooted jet-fighter procurement has been set up as an “options analysis” rather than a full competition to begin with, in order to prevent the Royal Canadian Air Force from again stacking the deck in favour of a single plane, a source familiar with the process says.

“If you simply ask the military to go back and revise the statement of requirements, you have no guarantee that they will not do it again in favour of a particular aircraft,” the source said.

[…]Contenders for the contract are expected to be Boeing’s Super Hornet, Dassault’s Rafale, Saab’s Gripen, the Eurofighter Typhoon, and Lockheed-Martin’s F-35.

Defense contest over major gulf arms buys

Dassault Rafale fighter deal to be concluded soon: Indian envoy

The multi-billion dollar contract between the Indian Air Force and the Dassault Aviation of France for the supply of 126 Rafale fighters will be concluded in the next three to four months, India’s Ambassador to France has said.

“The Rafale deal is in the final stages and hopefully it should be concluded in the next 3 to 4 months,” Ambassador Rakesh Sood told members of the Indian Journalists Association at the India House here yesterday…