LokeHow to get ‘Rafale’, ‘bribe’, ‘India’ and ‘prostitute’ in one headline
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2011/03/how-to-get-rafale-bribe-india.html
LokeSeems like the estimates are based on more than just empty weight…
LokeDo you realize that this figure includes “operating and support cost” ((14 billion $) and futures “overhaul and upgrade cost” (3.9 billion $)? This means all the $$ the Candians will spend in >30 years they will operate the F 35!!!
And what do you think the Norwegian figure of 25 billion usd include?
NO matter what cost you pick (unit flyaway/weapon system cost/lifetime cost/whatever), the F 35 is less expensive than EF…
Who talked about EF?
Anyway, these figures are still just speculations.
On verra.
LokeCanada Expects Much Higher JSF Unit Costs
While making no judgment on the operational capabilities of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a new report by Canada’s Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer says it estimates that the total program cost for 65 aircraft will be $29 billion, which means a per-unit price tag of about $450 million.
“It is not immediately obvious, given the available evidence, how the cost can be reduced to estimates predicted by Lockheed Martin over 10 years ago,” the report says.
Titled “An Estimate of the Fiscal Impact of Canada’s Proposed Acquisition of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter,” the report came out Thursday. The most recent Selected Acquisition Report published by the U.S. Defense Department shows an average unit production cost of $91 million per aircraft. Navy analysts predict an average unit cost of $128 million.
“Unless there is compelling evidence to the contrary, it is difficult to see prices reducing to their original estimated level,” the report says.
In 2008 Norway estimated 25 billion USD for 56 F-35…
LokeEurofighter offered to Indonesia
Indonesia informally approached Britain over the potential acquisition of up to 24 jets.
LokeWhat is the monthly salary for such a person in India?
Seems the IAF is taking this seriously…
LokeHowever, knowledgeable sources in the MoD suspect while Wg Cdr Thakur did accept the bribe, there could be a move afoot to push the French company out of the race by throwing in its name in the scandal that has hit the IAF and thereby scuttle its chances of bagging the ambitious multi-billion dollar contract that six foreign companies are vying for.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/144344/deeper-conspiracy-aero-indias-bribe.html
Could be true — or perhaps a false rumor spread by somebody that don’t want specific companies to look bad in India right now?
LokeAD,
thanks for sharing!
Interesting that Australia is getting the Harpoon for the SH.
Do you know if Australia is still showing some interest in the JSM for F-35?
A pity the F-22 had to return early though.
LokePerhaps it was just a rumor spread by one of the competitors. I know from previous competitions that some competitors tend to spread nasty rumors about the others.
I will not mention any names.
LokeNew Delhi: The air force has ordered a court of inquiry (CoI) against an officer accused of taking a bribe from a French arms company to better position its aircraft in the static display section of Aero-India held in Bangalore last month.
Which French aircraft were displayed in Aero India last month?
LokeI had another look at the Tellis report, and there are, as already pointed out by others, a lot of wrong info in particular for the Europan fighters.
For Gripen, one serious piece of misinformation is the fly-away price. Leaks from Brazil made it clear that Gripen NG was cheaper than the SH, and therefore substantially cheaper than both Eurofighter and Rafale, as one would expect. However equally important is that the operating costs will be lower than the others.
It seems he was not aware that the Skyward G IRST from Selex will equip the NG. This IRST is a further development of the IRST system in the Eurofighter.
He does not seem to appreciate the low RCS the NG will have. (see e.g. link)
He reports wrong empty weight (it’s 7100 kg not 8100 kg) and wrong max payload (it’s 7200 kg not 6000 kg).
He claims NG will have “poor hot and high performance” however we know that Saab was extremely satisfied after the tests performed in India, including those in hot and high conditions.
Also for some reason he does not list the Meteor as one of the BVR a2a weapons for Gripen, although it most likely will be the first a/c to finalize the integration of it.
He also tries to spread some uncertainty in general around the Meteor; he claims it’s still being developed and therefore risky, and also that “it is unclear if it will be released to India”. Right, so Europe will sell Typhoon, Rafale and Gripen to India but not Meteor and Iris-T… :rolleyes:
He mentions the Typhoon’s SC as having some tactical value, but fails to mention that the NG will also have some SC capability (be able to SC 250 nm, stay 50 minutes on-station and then return to base.)
I don’t know if his knowledge of the IAF way of thinking is similarly off?
Some are claiming that the main focus on MMRCA will be a2g however he says that IAF is putting more weight on a2a than a2g.
Also interesting that he claims the requirement for combat radius is 350 miles. Seems all the contenders will meet this requirement.
LokeSeems like there are issues between Russia and India on the Su-30 mods:
A war of words between India and Russia is threatening to delay the development of the air version of the BrahMos cruise missile, a joint effort of the two countries.
Friction between the two countries mainly stems from the redesigning of the Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft to make it capable of launching a 300-kg BrahMos supersonic missile from the air.While the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) wants its Russian partner, NPO Mashinostroeyenia, to foot the bill, the latter feels that India should be financing the Sukhoi redesigning.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/national/russia-spat-delays-brahmos-air-version-036
The Brahmmos weigh more than 300 kg of course, but what about the rest of the news story?
I am in particular surprised that this story claims that India expects Russia to pay for the redesign of the Indian Su-30 in order to carry the Brahmos. Would it not be natural to expect the customer to cover the costs? Or will Russia also operate the Brahmos?
More problematic of course is to refuse India to do the changes themselves.
How much is a crore by the way?
LokeNot really news, but some interesting information on the NG (thanks to Signatory on mp.net)
About the Selex radar:
“The production standard radar will be ready by 2013,” states Mason
On RCS reduction:
Effort will also be expended on reducing the aircraft’s radar cross section (RCS) through modifications to the air-intakes and wing leading edge and the use of composite materials and new surface coatings. RCS reduction measures are not new to the Gripen programme. “From the very start we have worked with this issue,” explains Lehander. “After the latest changes we have made, [reducing RCS] is nothing more to do with the aircraft, it is the weapons.”
As a result of this realisation, further work on this aspect of the Gripen NG’s design has included the possibility of installing weapons within conformal fuel tanks in a similar way to that proposed by Boeing as part of the proposed ‘Silent Eagle’ variant of the F-15.
The issue of RCS reduction for the aircraft’s stores will also be helped by the new weaponry employed by the Gripen NG such as the clearance of the MBDA Meteor beyond visual range (BVR) and Diehl IRIS-T within visual range WVR) air-to-air missiles. “AMRAAMs [advanced medium range air-to-air missiles are] not very good RCS wise, whereas the new missiles have RCS thinking behind them,” Lt Col Nilsson points out. New weapons pylons are also planned as part of this effort, “the survivability and RCS area is continuous work”, adds Lt Col Nilsson.
On the Skyward G:
Selex Gallileo is offering its newSkyward G for the requirement. At present the system, which pulls through from the company’s experience on the Eurofighter Typhoon’s Passive InfraRed Airborne Tracking Equipment PIRATE) system, remains in development, but it is expected to be completed in 2011 with flight testing expected to commence the same year, according to company officials.
Future sensor development:
Further improvements to the sensor suite are also being evaluated, including the potential to add 360 degree passive sensor coverage to the aircraft in a similar way to Northrop Grumman’s Distributed Aperture System (DAS). Studies have also been initiated to examine the potential anti-stealth applications of Saab’s Coherent All RAdio BAnd Sensing (CARABAS) ultra-wideband ground surveillance synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology in an air-to-air role. “We already have this technology in the VHF band,” Lt Col Nilsson asserts, but “are there any tactical applications [in the air-to-air role]? Could we rebuild this as a stealth finder? There are studies.”
LokeWell, I blame it on my bad english. What I meant was that for the UK it is a paper jet. There is only a plan to order it. As long as they are not paid for and delivered, I wouldn’t count on them as asset.
OK thanks I see what you mean. So some of their Typhoons are also still paper jets then 🙂
LokeAs for the Tranche 1 aircraft, I’m sure other countries such as Slovakia, Oman, Qatar etc would be happy enough to operate those ones if they just want a basic package/airframe.
Perhaps, perhaps not. Operating costs will most likely be significnatly higher than for second-hand F-16 or Gripen.
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