Discouraging Pak Requests For Heavy Weapons, Naval Stuff: French Defence Minister

“Concerns did come up in my discussions with the Indian Defence Minister about India’s concerns [over France’s supply of military hardware to Pakistan]. We supply Pakistan equipment that enables them to intercept terrorist communications. And we have decided to discourage any requests from Pakistan for heavy equipment, notably naval equipment,” French Defence Minister Gérard Longuet said in response to a question I put to him this morning at a press interaction in Delhi.

Asked if France, which has supplied several large military systems to Pakistan including fighter aircraft and submarines in the past, was reviewing its military supply policy to Islamabad, Longuet said, “We are awaiting certain clarifications from Pakistan.” He did not say what those clarifications were, or when he expected them. They are, presumably, about Pakistan’s sponsorship of terror groups on its soil and Afghanistan.

Asked about the M-MRCA, and US disappointment, the French Minister said, “The US might be sad [about its two aircraft being eliminated in the IAF M-MRCA contest], but with 50 per cent of the world arms market, they no doubt have other satisfactions.” He added, “We have full confidence in Indian procedures. The government wants full transparency, and Dassault has been completely transparent.” A team of US government officials met the Indian defence minister yesterday.

In an expected swipe at the Eurofighter consortium, the French Defence Minister said, “We are one country, and we have enjoyed a relationship since 1953. Dealing with one country you know well, I imagine, is better than dealing with four countries. It is just simpler.”

Also, “There will be no restrictions on the use of our equipment. That is an assurance.” He provided no further details on the Rafale offer.

On the IAF Mirage-2000 upgrade, Longuet said, “We are in the final stages of the upgrade agreement. It is up to the Indian political establishment to take a decision. We are confident that it will happen soon.”

from livefist.

Also, Rustom 1 is designed for an ops role as well, not just TD.

Do you mean Rustom H will have armed role as well?
…………

Imo the forces need to seriously ramp up the UAV capability as well as acquire combat ones.Its amazing how much capability an medium – high endurance UAV can add even in peacetime in monitoring border areas 24 X 7 particularly in mountainous terrain and porous borders which cannot be done by conventional human means.Plus the ucav’s capability to take out/deter detected terrorists trying to cross over/overzealous patrols and boulder painters can be very effective.

thats one evil looking UAV. Is it designed to carry Nag or is it just recon as of now ?

Tech demo version.To be succeeded by the Rustom H MALE uav.Payload should be electro optical on the TD and the actual one.
The UCAV under development is the AURA.
In the meantime IAF wont have any ucav[except harop].However there were reports of acquisition of Heron TP/Eitan[which is supposed to be able to carry combat payload] .Dont know what happened to it though.

Interesting wikileaks cable from 2006 😉

At PAF HQ March 17, Air Vice Marshall (AVM) Khalid
Chaudhry (Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Operations) and Air
Commodore Jamshed listened carefully as A/S Hillen outlined
concerns raised by some Members of Congress regarding the
pending sale of F-16s to Pakistan. AVM Chaudhry assured A/S
Hillen that Pakistan is prepared to address all USG security
concerns regarding the F-16s. Citing PAF’s long history of
cooperation with USAF, he was perplexed that some in the U.S.
are still anxious about Pakistan’s security protocols for the
F-16s. Chaudhry acknowledged that the Chinese JF-17 (another
staple in the PAF fleet) is simply not comparable to the F-16
in terms of quality, particularly its avionics and weapons
systems.

Chaudhry claimed to receive reports monthly of
acts of petty sabotage, which he interpreted as an effort by
Islamists amongst the enlisted ranks to prevent PAF aircraft
from being deployed in support of security operations in the
Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) along the Afghan
border. (Note: Speaking off the record, Chaudhry told A/S
Hillen that PAF aircraft are regularly called to provide air
support to military and security forces when they get into
tight spots in the FATA…dryily adding that Army brass and
the ground forces commanders would deny it. End note.)

Rest here

Schedules?What about the cost?If they want to make it a F 16 replacement , then they have to drastically lower the cost of procurement , of operation and of maintainance.

What sort of dramatic increase in platform capability does it bring to the table which justifies so much increase in life cycle costs when it is going to be procured in bulk by several countries?

Astra ballistic flight test carried out

M2K upgrade…

Defence ministry sources on Wednesday said the long-awaited deal with France for the upgrade of 52 Mirage-2000 multi-role fighters in IAF’s combat fleet is “finally ready” at a cost of almost Rs 11,000 crore ($2.4 billion).

“This is also now going to CCS for approval. Another big contract, which was being progressed simultaneously, for around 450 MICA (interception and aerial combat missiles) systems to arm the upgraded Mirages is also in the final stages now,” said a source.

Under the contract, the first four to six Mirages will be upgraded in France, while the rest will be retrofitted in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) with transfer of technology from the French companies.

Link

Compare with

ongoing upgrade of 63 MiG-29s under a $964 million deal inked with Russia in March 2008.

That flight of Alouettes was is jolly sight!
Thanks Ray!

What a machine! A flying tractor!
An antiquated flying tractor!

Here’s to the Als, Seakings and
others, pulling their own weight
and then some after duty call is
done!

It kindof reminded me of this lol..:D