India must build a trust relationship with France? More like France must do everything in its power to tie down a ridiculously important deal laden with implications for the very future of French military aerospace.

France will not push Dassault to sign something impossible to do. The goal is to get a stonger “eco system” for the Rafale and if possible, to earn money, not creating an eco system and close to it a black hole that will swallow everything.

For me, if the new gov isn’t confortable with France AND there is a clear agreement between HAL and Dassault by the end of the year, then we should wait 2016 to see something.

The huge cost escalation is simply not palatable to the Finance Ministry nor sellable to the public, that’s why EADS/Merkel sniff blood.

Imho, the Rafale deal is dead in the water.

1) Is there an official statement about a problem with price ? A real one I mean, not like the one about the Rafale pushed out of the competition.
2) If the answer to the first question is positive is there a hard point in the contract that provoke such a price ? ToT ? French guarantee for Indian companies ?
3) What exactly can EADS propose to soften them ?
4) What Ms Merkel is doing in that question ?

Are you sure that “coolest new toy” means that you must buy the plane that finished last in the competition of the Swiss AF.

So, flight of a nEUROn, Rafale and 7x together:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQhD88Wr0Jw

I agree that it’s a “fake” competition …….

Well, is the Canadian competition already opened or we are still in the preliminary discussion ?

Since I don’t believe neither that the Canada can buy Rafale, isn’t DA in a positon to generate some mediatic noise in favor of his bird ?

Rafale never had $60-65m fly away cost. more than a a billion Euro is sent to Dassualt each year to produce 8 to 10 Rafale. this much money is needed to get Rafale from production line. and i presume Indian production line figures will be way higher due to lack of productivity.

I lost the link but it was the official price for the F1 and F2.
Of course, the F3 must be more expensive for obvious reasons.

Sounds like someone from the French camp wants them to make the same mistakes they did. They ought to worry about making it up with the UAE Gents rather than want the competition to make a wrong move, get on the wrong side of those and you’ve got a lot of sucking up to do!

The French camp prepared a huge bowl of popcorn and is enjoying the show. :stupid:
With a contract for additionnal F-16 is on the way + integration of local weapons on Mirage, I don’t see exactly what BAE is doing there.

I recall that Dassault were rather officially vocal about coming out with a contract the past two years or so.

Yep, after years of discussion, Dassault hoped for a signature after all.

Well, how are French Rafales and Russian PAK-FA’s going to communicate????:rolleyes:

With Dassault/Thales working with Sukhoi for the solution.
How can we be sure that India will be able to ask the same to LM ?

Damn, there is really a curse over Dassault

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/key-bureaucrat-in-charge-of-mmrca-acquisition-and-agustawestland-probe-dies/1/312731.html

Arun Kumar Bal, Joint Secretary and Acquisition Manager in the Ministry of Defence died after a massive heart attack in New Delhi on Wednesday morning.