India has snubbed British industry and awarded a £13billion deal to supply fighter jets to France.
The contract was lost despite Government claims that the UK’s £1billion aid package to India would help secure the order.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2094610/France-swoops-rob-UK-13bn-Indian-jet-contract.html#ixzz1liX3gCdj

Really?
As opposed to let’s say a UK£1 billion in discount….
They really need to hire more competent managers if this was the case…:p

Whose advantage?:eek:

an advantage to Rafale (in the context of the beyond visual range combat with F-16 and J-10)

The Americans firms did not make the MMRCA list, still earning billions selling other military systems.

There is a dire need of focusing on R&D in every industry in India, i wonder if defence sector can make advances on it’s own?
That said, it is difficult to see how a government/PSU work environment will give the best results for the investments made into defence, lack of autonomy to take decisions and lack of accountability is never a good mix.
As for small innovative companies, well all they get from the government are taxes from the moment they are registered, hopefully giving grants instead of taxes would be the norm one day….

There must be alternate purchases now in phases (as the planes come in) to purchase weaponry for them (unless that was a part of the deal as well).

Considering the deal for just for air to air missiles for the upgraded Mirage 2000’s, it seems to be a very nice and long term deal for France to sell complete range of weaponry to a new type.

What will the deal compromising of? the planes, the assembly line in India, training for air force and manufacturing seem to be there as defaults.

It really makes one wonder which Indian official thought it was a good idea for Indian made planes to be trucked in and assembled on the spot.

What kind of message is that sending when all the other planes are flying in under their own power? Its not like the LCA is still a paper weight and can’t fly, but that entrance sure makes it seem like it.

Also, that photographer seem to have an unhealthy interest in the two topless guys erecting the stands. :p

Edit,

On closer inspection, that LCA looks like a mock up, or at least I hope it is.

Can the mock-up fly, sure if you attach a big enough helium balloon to it, or throw it off the edge of a cliff, it can also fly and sail as cargo, since the show was in bengaluru it was transported by road.

The photographer could be attracted to the shirtless Swedes, nothing unhealthy about that in my book.

by that comparison the B-52 is much better than the F-16 block-52+, or for that matter any other fighter manufactured till date.

10,200 Payload…. :D, while its sitting on the ground why not attach it to a mountain and claim the payload to be a million kgs…..

What are the specifications of the sensor payload on the UAV?