O.K but considering the total time frame of the procurement which is more or less 10 years ,this is still not much of a workload for Dassault plants in France.

it’s still much better than nothing… what would you expect? had the US Navy ordered the rafale “made in france” that would be a LOT of workload, but it won’t happen. Having work for the next 10 years, to me it seems to be pretty good by anyone’s standards, especially these days.

just for confirmation of AK’s post: the TV on the F-22 is used for manouvering at low speeds. at higher speeds the aerodynamic controls are more effective and allow for the aircraft maximum performance

what counts more than the sheer size is the RCS value, and in that regard, the rafale is quite competitive

@ Mildave,

I think it depends on the reality of indian offer for 80 additional aircraft…

if true, chances are EADS keeps quiet as you don’t want to upset the guys that may give you almost the same market as well, especialy considering that, as Typhoon finished “second” it may appear as the natural choice for the complement (if it has to be something else than the rafale).

Now, is that announcement real? Is there a real intent to buy additional 80 fighters? Is it just a way to make everybody play nice until the whole thing is definitely signed? Wait and see… 😀

Crap!! why announce that today???

Dassault is owned by EADS 46% and Dassault family 51% so who holds the remaining shares ?? a privileged few perhaps..I don’t think Dassault shares are available to an ordinary investor..

The remaining Dassault Aviation shares can be bought by anyone on the Paris market… I can tell you as I had some since last december…. The funny (or sad) thing is that I had to get some extra cash for the end of the month and sold them just three days ago planning to get them back with my pay on February the first (yes, tomorrow)… I only could hope they don’t announce anything for a few days… talk about bad luck… couldn’t they shut up for a day longer???

Anyway, good for India and for Dassault, and as said by somebody a bit earlier, hopefully Dassault doesn’t mess this deal now (they do have a history in that regard with the rafale until now 😀 )

I think it’s quite clear that in the current political and social climate, any procurement of French fighter aircraft is pretty much out of the question. It just won’t go down well with the public, the media and certainly won’t be any good for Dave Cameron and the Conservative party.

today, that is certain, but in two to three years, who can say if they’ll still be in office? or what political climate there will be by then? a,d how will the f-35 evolve during that time?..

if the gripen E/F wasn’t there it’s beacause it doesn’t even exist (yet at least)

now, how an aircraft that doesn’t exist can “fit your requirements”? already the expected capabilities were lesser than the other two, and that’s for capabilities that you expect (or hope for if you prefer)

if most people don’t want to hear about it, it can explain the offer from dassault who can sense they have a chance to get this market “back” , especially as they were pointed out as winners in technical part of the contest.

It is unlike saab who tried to get back into MMRCA market after they were eliminated from the technical evaluation for example

well thats your opinion…
now, how would that be, if every govement buy is a public prestige demokratic vote, with no interest in real requirements or TOT aspects (only driven throu media simplication) or budget restricitons. if so, i think we would have the greece krisis in all democratic stats all over the world :confused:

what are you talking about? I said simply that, when you are in charge of a country, you look at what is in your best interest, period. If you find a ONE SINGLE country leader that doesn’t fit that definition, please point him out for me…