Spitfire9European Parliament Calls for Arms Embargo Against Saudi Arabia
Not good news for Eurofighter. I imagine if any of the 4 partner countries decides to embargo arms sales to SA, the other 3 have to accept that.
Spitfire9The Swiss airforce wants the highest performance fighter they could get, which is out of sync with the country’s budget and minimum capability required for air policing missions in Swiss airspace. They wanted a fighter that could outperform the hornet in every area, even for strike, EW, recce capability. Why do they need all that capability for? In reality even the hornets are overkill for air policing missions inside Swiss borders.
Imo even the f-6e was adequate for the QRA and air policing missions around Switzerland. Thats why I said IF, the swiss airforce could lower their requirements probably then the Swiss people would agree to fund its new fighters.
If they really insist on high performance air superiority fighters, get those cheap used tranche 1 typhoons from Germany or Italy and be done with it.
The Swiss requirements vis a vis QRA always seemed rather dubious to me. I mean, how does Sweden police its airspace given that it has only Gripen C/Ds available?
One could have argued that the Swiss hold themselves to a higher standard, if not for the rather embarrassing fact that QRA in Switzerland is only available during business hours on weekdays (until recently, not even during lunchtime). Plans to provide 24×7 QRA came about much later, and will still only fructify by 2020.
I was baffled by Switzerland considering Rafale and Typhoon as a replacement for F-5. I could understand if the Swiss air force had spent years complaining that F-5 was inadequate but I have never read that anywhere. However I see a logic in looking forward to F-18 retirement and ordering a type that can become the one fighter used post F-18 retirement. Again I see little need for Switzerland to place much value on fighter’s A2G capabilities. I think an aircraft with performance above that of F-5 but close to that of F-18 would be the sensible choice for Switzerland (and would stand a better chance of not being vetoed by the Swiss public in a referendum).
Spitfire9For the F-35, they may be willing to reduce the required numbers (or hike the budget). I doubt they’ll be as generous when it comes to the Rafale & Eurofighter.
I suspect they will be budget limited to procuring and operating a small number of F-35’s but The Netherlands is in the same fix, so it would make sense for both countries to try to share as many fixed costs as possible. The idea that loads of countries will hike their military budget because F-35 is going to be quite a lot more expensive than first expected is not realistic IMO. It is more likely to me that F-35 will cannibalise other national defence capabilities (army/navy/air force).
Spitfire9Btw
Any news from the Italian defence ministers visit to Kuwait?
According to the Italian newspaper link I followed last week, the OEM was talking to banks. Scorpion82 ventured that Finmeccanica might be trying to arrange favourable credit deals but I don’t see that. I’m used to the idea of getting documentary credits that mature in (say) 120 days when you ship something to a customer to whom you have extended 120 days credit and then selling those credits at a discount to a financial institution to get the funds earlier but I don’t understand the delay here. Kuwait government respects contracts it signs, doesn’t it, so I don’t see Finmeccanica needing to cover against non-payment.
Spitfire9Damning critique of India’s procurement process (Source: NewsClick India)
Spitfire9Canada: Liberals Face Dilemma Over F-35 Fighter Jets
Spitfire9Even retiring Mig 29 &/or Mirage 2000 would make sense if you concentrate on a three types AF with Su 30 MKI, Rafale & LCA to make up the numbers.
Maybe offer to sell those upgraded M2K to Brasil & the upgraded Mig 29s to Iran?
Nic
India recently agreed to pay about $50 million per frame for a M2K update. Still going on, isn’t it? Not sure how much anyone would pay for them since you can get something like a brand new Super Hornet for not much more per frame. Short of a big problem arising with Gripen E, I don’t see Brazil being interested in buying any M2K.
Spitfire9And vice versa. Amongst the issues flagged by HAL were issues with spares and assemblies, and inadequate adherence to TOT requirements in terms of schedules etc.
Seems to be resolved though, because:
http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/hal-and-bae-systems-to-develop-combat-hawk-improved-trainer-115052900054_1.html
The business-standard article talks of developing a combat version of the Hawk, for which there would be a market due to its relatively low cost. I thought Indonesia was supplied with a combat version of the Hawk many years ago, in which case a combat version has already been developed. I don’t recall countries queuing up to buy that. Have things moved on where the cost of the cheapest combat jet is so high that a sizeable market for a combat Hawk has emerged?
Spitfire9[QUOTE=mrmalaya;2295516]
My english is bad, I am sorry I sometimes get excited and explain without punctuation, plurals, or forget words.
Your English is anything but bad.
+1
Spitfire9F35 has only been cheapest at one point and location, Nov 2008 in Norway…
What is special about Norway is that if you fly Gripen E’s around, half of them drop out of the sky during their service life time. Clearly Gripen E is a very risky buy (and more expensive than F-35 because half of F-35’s will not drop out of the Norwegian sky during their service life time).
Spitfire9So.. are you saying that because its not been produced in numbers over the last two years, it’ll never be produced in numbers? Also, how many years will it take to set up a Gripen E production facility in India? Never-mind the fact that IOC for the Gripen E is scheduled for 2023.
No but when will Tejas Mk1 be produced in numbers? Although a perfectly good replacement for MiG-21, it seems to have very modest capabilities. That’s why a Mk2 version was proposed, wasn’t it? IAF may consider Gripen E as a very good substitute for Tejas Mk2 with an earlier (and more reliable) IOC. In partnership with SAAB a more capable light fighter than Tejas Mk1 could be produced without near indefinite delays. Either Gripen E or Tejas Mk2, with SAAB TOT. If India does not have the know how to develop Tejas Mk2, I think AMCA is a distant dream.
And why forget the Su-30MKI – there’s a squadron a year production that can be extended much further (with high domestic content). And the question will that point will be why Gripen, why not the SH, why not the F-16? Why any of them? Result: long delays.
Yes, more Su-30MKI can be built but that does not fix the need for a good light fighter and a good medium fighter. SH would be the cheapest medium fighter to manufacture, I think. The redundant tooling to make it should be available in 2/3 years, so that should be much cheaper than setting up with new tooling. Cheaper to operate than Rafale and Typhoon, too.
Long delays: yes. How long to get an affordable medium fighter into local production with SH?
Spitfire9The defence minister could well sign the deal on behalf of the Italian MoD. This is a government to government deal. The Italian MoD buys the aircraft and resells them to Kuwait. That’s how it was done in KSA and Oman IIRC.
The deals with industry are subsequently signed between the Italian MoD and industry, presumably Finmeccanica itself.
Don’t doubt what you say but when I looked at the google trans of the article cited, it looked like Fimmeccanica were arranging some kind of deal with a number of banks. If Italian govt buys the Typhoons from the OEM, why is the OEM making arrangements with banks?
Spitfire9The only South American countries in the market for a fighter jet over the coming decade are Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, none of which have the budget for something like the Gripen E. They’ll go either for a cheap type like the FA-50 or JF-17, or second-hand fighters (most likely retiring F-16s).
If they might go for retiring F-16’s, why not surplus Gripen C’s? Seems to be what Slovakia may do (but OK, that gives commonality with Czech Republic fighters)?
India again is a very long shot. They’ve already got two types of cost-effective workhorses in the Tejas and Su-30MKI. The govt. will find it hard to justify a Gripen E acquisition without some sort of competition (SH? Viper?), which will inevitably take years to finalize (MMRCA redux), and is therefore something they’ll want to avoid. The only aircraft that they can justify as a single-vendor purchase is ironically the F-35 itself, offering capabilities (read: stealth) not currently available from other sources.
You say India already has the cost effective Tejas. 2+ years since IOC was declared the IAF has a grand total of zero and it is still in the throes of development. It sounds like Tejas Mk2 will not be around for close on a decade (if at all) so I can see a Gripen production facility in India if Mk2 is shelved or cancelled. I can also see a SH line if Rafale remains too expensive. Both companies could provide TOT useful to AMCA. I don’t see F-35 being built in India.
Spitfire9If Slovakia acquires Gripen it will be a purchase rather than a lease
From Singapore SAAB briefing:
During the briefing, Saab officials confirmed that they expect to add Slovakia to the list of Gripen export fighter customers at some stage after the general election timed for next month.
The Slovakians are currently in negotiation with Saab to acquire 8 new C/D variant aircraft, said Richard Smith, the head of Gripen sales, on Feb 18.
“Negotiations are ongoing as they head into an election and most likely the contract will be signed after the election is over,” said Smith.
The Gripen sales boss said the deal would be a purchase and not a lease.
Spitfire9First Royal Air Force of Oman Typhoon Begins Final Assembly
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