As many of the deliveries will be post-2020, will the ‘F-4’ roadmap spec. figure in the IAF’s plans? (i.e. conformal AESA arrays, 9T engine and the like).

Well it appears that the Germans (and particularly the British) haven’t given up quite just yet. As for “encouraging” the Indians, PM Cameron can only mean a revised bid, perhaps he’ll push for joint lead-bidder with the Germans as was rejected before.
Maybe they’ll sit tight and prey the French clutch defeat from the jaws of victory -after all, it wouldn’t be the first time! (that’s a very remote possibility this time round though, imho). As for the £280m in British aid- it’s entirely voluntary (and mostly development/humanitarian) so there’s a danger tinkering with it could backfire badly.

Deutsche Bank estimates the value of the MMRCA deal to be worth between $15-$20bn, and it expects Dassault (as the core manufacture)to reap around 60% of the total value (this figure excludes Thales’ & Safran’s profit- but they should benefit too). So pousser des hourras!!

Swerve, I don’t know who your sources are, but my understanding is Russia and India are set to move up from 9th and 10th respectively, with Italy at 8th in their sights. The CEBR predicts that by 2020, the four Brics will be the 2nd (China), 4th (Russia), 5th (India) and 6th (Brazil) largest economies, with only the US (1st) and Japan (3rd) ahead. Obviously GDP per capita is a different story.

I wouldn’t be too sure about Brazil, Dilma Rouseff and her new Defence Minister aren’t as susceptible to Sarkozy’s assiduous courting as her predecessor. They’re most likely to go for the lowest cost option i.e. Gripen.

I’d say Rafale’s chances in Malaysia have increased somewhat, they have developed close ties with the IAF via the Su-30MKI/MKM, and will probably be keen to share evaluation data once the contract is finalised. Can’t make head nor tail of the UAE comedy show, are they still wanting the 9T engine upgrade? Are the Indians interested in this engine?

I can’t believe some MP in UK PM’s parliamentary questions has just raised the issue of using British govt. aid to India as leverage to overturn the MMRCA decision. Some people really need to get over themselves!

That’s a really pretty French girl in the foreground, Corrosion…but who’s the Russian super-model in the background?

FT’s take on ‘The Numbers Game’:

Dassault wins $20bn Indian fighter jet contract

By James Lamont in New Delhi and James Boxell in Paris

India has chosen France’s Dassault Rafale as the preferred bidder in a hotly contested competition worth as much as $20bn to supply the Indian air force with advanced combat aircraft.

The French aircraft has beaten the Eurofighter Typhoon in a bid to equip India with 126 multi-role fighter jets in one of the world’s largest military contracts.

The winning bid is expected to shape India’s air power for the next three decades and serve as the bedrock of a strategic partnership. It also has the potential to reshape the European defence industry at a time when companies are suffering from cutbacks in their traditional developed markets.

The news is a big boost for Dassault and for Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, who faces an election this May and is a close ally of the Dassault group of companies, which also owns the pro-government Le Figaro newspaper.

Shares in Dassault Aviation, maker of the Rafale, rose almost 20 per cent in Paris. If finalised, the deal would be the Rafale’s first export success, which until now has been bought only by the French military.

The Indian government briefed European governments on Tuesday about its decision to advance negotiations exclusively with Paris-based Dassault in preference to the Eurofighter.

The decision came after an evaluation of the lifecycle cost of the aircraft, the acquisition cost and military offset consideration. The offsets include the amount of technology that European companies will disclose to India and the share of investment they will bring to India’s defence industries if they are chosen.

A source at the British High Commission in New Delhi said India’s foreign ministry had told governments that it had reached its decision on the basis of cost and that it was no reflection on bilateral partnerships. The rival aerospace companies were informed earlier in the day of the outcome.

“We are disappointed, but it’s not all over until the contract is signed. We don’t yet know the final decision,” a UK diplomat said.

India’s Ministry of Defence confirmed that Dassault was the preferred bidder saying that the final contract would be awarded in the financial year beginning April 2012. It said the cost of the contract would be between $15bn to $20bn and that the Rafale was the cheaper of the rival bids.

“Rafale is the most competent contender,” said a person close to the negotiations at India’s MoD.

After trials last year, India had selected the Rafale and the multinational Eurofighter Typhoon to compete in the final stages of the competition. It had discarded bids from Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, Lockheed’s F-16 Super Viper, Sweden’s Saab Gripen and Russia’s MiG-35.

“We have won the contract” but “there are still a number of things to finalise”, said Pierre Lellouche, the French trade minister. “We are in a phase of exclusive negotiation.”

According to Indian officials, the Rafale was selected because it was preferred by the country’s air force and was cheaper than the Eurofighter Typhoon, which is built by a consortium of the pan-European EADS, BAE Systems of the UK and Finmeccanica of Italy.

The seal of approval for French industry is also welcome for Mr Sarkozy, who is lagging well behind his socialist rival in the polls for the forthcoming presidential election. A large part of the election campaign will be fought around the issue of support for jobs and French industry.

“The negotiation of the contract is going to be carried out with the close support of the French authorities. It will include the transfer of important technology guaranteed by the French state,” Mr Sarkozy said on Tuesday. “The conclusion of the Rafale project will illustrate the depth and scope of the strategic partnership between France and India.”

The decision will be a setback to Eurofighter which had strongly lobbied India to buy its aircraft and considered its bid stronger in terms of performance, security of supply and strategic alignment. It is also a blow for David Cameron, the UK prime minister, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who both lobbied on behalf of Eurofighter.

The Eurofighter consortium is building the Typhoon for its four main customers: the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy. While Austria and Saudi Arabia also operate the jet, there are at present no other firm export orders for the Typhoon. While Eurofighter had promoted the jet in Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, the Indian contract was its most promising.

Uday Bhaskar, an Indian defence analyst, said the decision would have a “strong bearing on bilateral relations”.

Is the IAF getting the M88-2E4?

L1 bidder (hence winner) to be announced “soon”, contract to be signed FY13:

(Reuters) – India will not sign a multi-billion dollar deal to buy fighter jets before this fiscal year ending in March, the country’s defense minister A.K. Antony told reporters on Tuesday.

However, New Delhi will “soon” announce the lowest bidder for the contract worth about $11 billion, two defense ministry sources told Reuters separately.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/31/us-india-defence-idUSTRE80U0A820120131

…in separate news, an Indian man dressed in a USAF uniform was arrested @ the Indian MoD press centre after giving a bogus press conference where he claimed MMRCA had been cancelled and the IAF would instead procure the F-35 (with F-16IN deliveries as a stop-gap measure under FMS).
He later gave his name as ‘quadbike’, the Indian police stressed that at no time was ‘waterboarding’ used in their interrogation. Mug shot to follow…

скошенность входа воздухозаборников двигателей в двух плоскостях – относительно вертикальных продольной и поперечной плоскостей самолета, позволяет отражать электромагнитные волны, попадающие на входы воздухозаборников с переднего и боковых ракурсов, в сторону от источника облучения, тем самым, уменьшая общий уровень радиолокационной заметности самолета в этих ракурсах.

The skew of the entrances of the air-intakes [of the engines’] in two planes- the vertical longitudinal and the transverse , facilitates the reflection of EM waves falling on the air-intake entrances from the front and side elevations- away from the irradiating source, thereby reducing the overall level of radar visibility of the aircraft @ these angles/elevations.

Imho, the intake design serves two functions, partial LOS blockage of the compressor and EM scattering. The latter would compensate for the T-50 not having the ‘flat bottom’.

The engine will receive a purpose-built blocker, but this is not mentioned (as it would be a separate patent probably from the engine manufacturer).

Are you sure? There is an F-22 reference much earlier on, but what I refer to is repeated under [patent] claims (Формула изобретения) point #7:

7. Самолет по п.1, отличающийся тем, что входы воздухозаборников двигателей выполнены скошенными в двух плоскостях – относительно вертикальных продольной и поперечной плоскостей самолета.

There is no mention of the ‘ramp’.