There are no second thoughts on MMRCA choice: DRDO chief

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief V K Saraswat who took a sortie in the Swedish Saab Gripen fighter aircraft last month made it clear that his sortie had nothing to do with the Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) deal. Saraswat was in the city to inaugurate a National Conference on Condition Monitoring at the Research and Development Establishment, Engineers (R&DE). “There are no second thoughts on the MMRCA choice. My sortie in Saab Gripen has no relationship with MMRCA. My visit to the facility was in relation with Foliage Penetration Radar,” he said. Gripen was one of the contenders for the Indian Air Force’s high profile 126 MMRCA program, which now stands finalised with French Dassault Rafale.

Five A400M test aircraft complete a formation flight

Awesome vid showing the five A400M

Behind the Scenes at Eurosatory

The Dassault stand [..at Eurosatory] is showing a model of Franco-British cooperation: the Telemos, based on a BAE-designed and -flown Mantis, but the model shows for the first time three payloads on the underside of the unmanned air vehicle (UAV).

According to this source the deal could be signed in July at the Farnborough air show.

France-UAE talks over Rafale stalled -report

A bit older but I don’t recall it been posted here.

Algeria: Bouteflika, Air Force and Rafale

Posted on: Tue, Jun 12, 2012

The Algerian Air Force (AAF) is said to be discussing with Algerian President Abdulaziz Bouteflika the possibility of buying the Dassault Rafale aircraft. The following 374-word report sheds light on the subject and tells what about the discussions in question and what about the reaction of President Bouteflika. It also tells what about the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Now that’s a big surprise! If anybody has access to the article I would like to know more.

Offsets proposed for fertiliser sector (lol :D)

“Thus, such offsets will primarily aim at securing access of Indian companies to basic raw material as well as price advantage compared to its competitors”, explained an official source.

They said, currently the national policy of offsets is applicable primarily for the defence sector but primarily for import of items and not acquisition. Under such arrangement, defence hardware acquisitions above Rs 300 crore require the foreign supplier to ‘offset’ at least 30 per cent of the contract value by sourcing sub-assemblies, components and services from India, as is the case with the recent $10.6-billion jet fighter deal with Dassault Rafale.

They explained India procures a lot of defence items from Belarus and Russia and such a policy may help the fertiliser companies to procure assets or leases in fertiliser resources in those countries. Further the ministry has proposed a model for acquisition of raw material assets abroad by first creating goodwill by building infrastructure needs of a country rich in fertiliser resources and then acquiring the raw material resources.

Indian aircraft carrier enters sea trials as navy eyes Rafale

Russia has commenced sea trials involving the Indian navy’s refurbished aircraft carrier the INS Vikramaditya, as sources suggest the service could consider a future acquisition of the Dassault Rafale.

Originally built for Russia as the Admiral Gorshkov, with a maximum displacement of 43,500t, the refitted and modernised vessel left Severodvinsk in the north of the country on 8 June for open-sea trials, preceeding its delivery to India in December. Once operational, the Vikramaditya will be capable of carrying 30 to 34 aircraft, including RSK MiG-29K deck-based fighters.

Sources say the Indian navy is considering the carrier-capable Rafale M as a possible acquisition, with a potential cost benefit to come from the air force’s pending deal for 126 of the type to meet its medium multi-role combat aircraft requirement.

Already operational with the French navy and similar in size to the MiG-29K, the Rafale M could potentially be operated from India’s future ski-jump-equipped domestic aircraft carriers and offer a greater operational capability than current Russian aircraft and India’s Aeronautical Development Agency Tejas naval fighter.

India’s interest in new naval fighters stems partly from China’s ongoing test work with the aircraft carrier Shi Lang, which will be capable of deploying locally-built versions of the Sukhoi Su-30.

Nice pictures of AdA aircraft to see.