Khalifa University students head to france for prestigious internships

Khalifa University announced that 10 of its students have accepted prestigious internships with top international companies in France.
The 10 UAE Nationals, six men and four women, will work for THALES, MBDA, SNECMA and Dassault. All of these are world leaders in the aerospace and defense fields. The internships will last 45 days and focus exclusively on projects related to applications for the aeronautical and defense sectors.

The students will benefit from the experiences they will gain across a variety of different engineering fields, including aerospace, computer, mechanical and electronic, all are programmes offered by Khalifa University.

Some of the areas they will focus on include: inspection and development of composite parts used in the manufacturing of Dassault Rafale jet fighters, subsonic and supersonic missile development and control design, and jet engine assembly and testing.

“Khalifa University offer its students, through its curriculum, state of the art 3D modeling and simulations software that enables them to learn and train on the latest available industry-standard technology and ensures that they are at the very top of their fields,” Said Interim Provost Mohammed Al-Mualla and Senior Vice President for Research at Khalifa University.

He continued, “We are pleased to see our students accepting internships with such prestigious companies. This kind of experience is invaluable. Our students will bring the knowledge that they gain back to the UAE, where they will apply it to their future studies and careers. Khalifa University is dedicated to making sure that its students receive the best education in addition to providing opportunities for international experiences. We also make a point of partnering with some of the world’s top companies, so that they can share their technology, expertise and experiences with our students. Our students are the leaders of tomorrow’s economy and everything they learn and experience will contribute to the creation of the knowledge economy as envisioned by Abu Dhabi’s 2030 vision.”

BAE Systems Expect UAE Deal

Britain’s BAE Systems believes the United Arab Emirates has “real and genuine” interest in buying 60 of its Eurofighter Typhoon jets instead of the French Dassault Rafale.

“I think the interest is real and genuine as does the British government and we are working hard to put a package together for 60 planes for the UAE,” BAE Systems’ business development director Alan Garwood told Reuters at the Farnborough Air Show on Tuesday.

“We could tell by the questions they (the UAE government) were asking us that they were serious.”

The UAE was expected to finalise a $10 billion agreement with Dassault last year but the talks faltered after the UAE said the terms were uncompetitive and unworkable.

Garwood said the British government’s improved relationship with Abu Dhabi, the failure of talks with Dassault and recent new business wins for BAE in the Gulf state make it confident it can clinch the deal.

Stealing back the UAE deal would be a coup for BAE’s Eurofighter consortium which earlier this year lost out on a $20 billion deal to sell 126 fighters to India which chose the Dassault Rafale as their preferred bidder.

The Eurofighter consortium is made up of BAE, Italy’s Alenia and European aerospace and defence group EADS.

Garwood said BAE would also look to tie up a deal to sell 12 Typhoon jets to Oman by the end of the year.

“We’ll start formal negotiations with Oman towards the end of August I would imagine. The two governments have targeted it for completion this year and we want it done this year as well,” he said.

“I see no reason why we shouldn’t be able to do that.”

Analysts estimate the sale, which Reuters last week reported was close, could be worth up to $2 billion.

Malaysia is considering buying up to 36 Typhoon jets as well, said Garwood.

The British weapons maker is also battling it out with U.S. rival Lockheed Martin for a $10 billion contract to provide a fleet of new training jets to the U.S. air force.

If successful, BAE, which is working on its bid with American firms Northrop Grumman and L-3, could provide the United States with 350 of its Hawk training jets. A decision over the T-X programme, as it is known, is expected by 2014.

“The funding is there for this apparently … We’re in for it and we are confident that the system can yield very high pilot output for the United States,” said Garwood.

BAE, battling shrinking European and American defence budgets, has been forced to cut thousands of jobs at home and abroad due to public spending cuts in recent months.

Path clear for Rafale fighter deal: Antony

India’s hunt for acquisition of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) is coming to a close with the defence ministry giving the green signal to the evaluation process that led to selection of the French Rafale fighter. The plane was chosen as it was the lowest bidder on the basis of its lifecycle cost and technology transfer. The total deal is worth $20 billion (Rs 1.12 lakh crore) with options for further purchases.

Replying to a letter written on February 27, 2012 by TDP Rajya Sabha member MV Mysura Reddy alleging manipulation of the MMRCA evaluation process, defence minister AK Antony said: “The issues raised by you were examined by independent monitors who have concluded that the approach and methodology adopted by the Contract Negotiations Committee (CNC) in the evaluation of the commercial proposals thus far, have been reasonable and appropriate and within the terms of the Request for Proposals (RFR) and Defence Procurement Procedure, 2006.”

The Indian Air Force on January 31 had declared Rafale as the preferred bidder, overriding the claims of the multi-nation Eurofighter. According to negotiations, 18 Rafale fighters will arrive in India from mid-2015, with another 108 to be built in India under collaboration.

As reported in the Hindustan Times, Reddy had written to Antony stating: “The alleged manipulation of the evaluation process in picking the (Rafale), which resulted in the decision to procure 126 MMRCA has raised serious apprehensions not only across the country but also worldwide. If a proper decision is not taken, the country’s credibility will be at stake.”

Two days later, Antony ordered an inquiry into all the points raised by Reddy.

Talking to HT after receiving Antony’s final response on Monday evening in Hyderabad, Reddy said he was not satisfied with the reply. “I will wait for the report after the defence ministry has examined the finalised CNC recommendations as promised by the defence minister,” he said.

‘Nuclear’ Rafale sweetens progress

As final commercial negotiations between India and France proceed on a deal for 126 Dassault Rafale fighters as part of the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) competition, a recent event has sweetened progress. Last month on June 19, the French Air Force demonstrated a nuclear deterrent capability by test-firing the MBDA ASMP-A stand off nuclear capable cruise missile. The mission lasted five hours and involved pilots from the 113 Air Base conducting a mid-air refueling, a high-altitude cruise phase, and a dived low-altitude phase to enter enemy territory.

Dassault Aviation, it may be noted, was the only one of the six MMRCA firms that explicitly detailed for the IAF its nuclear deterrent capability along with the test plans. The IAF, in fact, was briefed and kept in the loop about the ASMP-A test.

Thales’ Rafale Simulator To Train French Pilots

The French defence procurement agency (DGA) has accepted Thales’ upgrade of the F3.2 standard for the first two Rafale simulator cabins at the simulation centre in Saint-Dizier.

The Transformation Squadron at Saint-Dizier has a total of four cabins which provide training on the Rafale for French Air Force and Navy pilots. The upgrade will allow improved and training for pilots preparing to join the squadron.

Pilots will be trained for air-to-sea attack with the AM39 anti-ship missile missions, reconnaissance with the Reco-NG pod, air support with the Damocles laser targeting pod and nuclear deterrence with the ASMP/A enhanced medium-range air-to-ground missile.

In 2013, the Rafale simulation centre in Landivisiau, which has two simulators, will be upgraded to the F3.2 standard.

Thanks for the info.

But CDG is having a very low compliment of Rafale-M, just 9 or 12 units…is it because of the SE currently onboard or is it that the remaining airframes are all kept in storage or land based?
Do the airframes on board gets rotated?

Thatz stunning…the Ruskies need to employ some Frenchies to take photos of their aircrafts.

Given that one of the flotilla is still flying SEM, that should explain a bit why there are so few Rafale on board for each deployment. Add the fact that each Rafale are far more capable than the previous types, and that the CdG carrying capability is far more modest than its US counter parts, and you get the picture.

Another Farnborough article about the Meteor program and Typhoon integration (ahead of Rafale?):

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_07_10_2012_p0-475096.xml&p=2

The first integration firing from the Gripen has already been completed, and live captive-carry trials have been flown on the Rafale. Those warplanes should be carrying the Meteor in operations by 2015. As for Eurofighter, the main integration contract has not yet been finalized, which could delay the projected UK in-service date of July 2015.

Link

Integration will be more or less completed at the same time, only in service entry within Europeans air forces should differ.

As Mildave indicates – physical fitting can be a problem.

I’m kinda surprised they let B have a different weapons bay to A & C. It just opens up a whole can of worms for down the line.

If they are gonna cripple A and C by making it common with B, then at least get the important interfaces exactly equal!

(I’m sure MBDA will happily spend several million of MoD money “on software” before finding out it doesn’t fit “due to unforseen installation compatibilities”. :D)

Apparently the B variant was too heavy so they chose to reduce its weight by reducing the weapons bay.

Anyway, getting back to thread topic.

Can we agree that the only main differentiator between STOVL and VTOL is the ability to operate from very small ships? (LHDs)

[Which assumes compact STOVLs will always find a suitable piece of road or a short semi-prepared rough field when operating off land-bases. I believe that is a reasonable assumption. Has there been any instances of in-theatre Harrier VTOL operation from ground bases at all?]

I think Iraq and Afghanistan (but especially the former) at least for the UK.