In this context though, stating the General is trying to drum up political support isn’t true, unless the French spend their military budget for pride. General Lanata didn’t say they are outclassed by potential adversaries, he said they were being outclassed by equivalent partners. Surely you don’t expect French politicians to approve the spending of vast sums of money so their equipment is better than allies?

thing is, thre was an election and the small guy who got up there, has cut, just last month, 800 million euros from Armée de l’Air’s budget (basically, the unfinanced external operations that are, usually, supported by the “general budget” (meaning, the spending costs a little to every ministry), he has decided that the Armée de l’Air has to finance them alone.. which, as it wasn’t planned and financed it defense budget for this year and as their purse isn’t elastic, brings cuts in deliveries, support and so on..).. The new parliament, where the president’s party has 322 seats out of 577 is filled with amateurs who became elected under his flag, but have no idea about parliamentary work, or politics for that matter, for the most part and let him do whatever he wants the way he wants. Under such circumstances, the general has to convince them to do a little their parliamentary job and do allow resources that are needed.

as for the financing of further development of Rafale, thing is that the new aircraft probably won’t be bought by France before some 20 years for now… and while the aircraft as such is excellent today, it will have difficulties to stay a first class fighter for 20 years without any upgrades.. And wanting a first class fighter is not about chest bumping, but simply the need as France continuously wages wars in Africa and Asia, and you can’t just say “the bad guys will remain armed with AK-47’s and drive only Toyota pick-ups for the next 20 years… so we don’t need anything better than today…” In any case, it is not question about financial ability, but rather about priorities.. if they decide to finance both, they can.. For example, the today’s president continues to spend cash giving it to companies, officially “to create jobs”, except they’ve been doing it for several years now and almost zero jobs were created.. it only goes straight into shareholders pockets.. we’re talking about 45 billion euros per year, and he wants to increase that number even more.. 45bn/y completely wasted… just by cutting that useless spending you get some air for other things… and that’s just one example..

Well, at least that shows the depth of your arguments about it… not that it is surprising in any way

Et bien voilà. At last, someone speaking with his head on that side of the Channel*.

*Wonder how much bashing he will have to endure to say the least.

Let’s see, the man has to motivate politicians to allow the development (invest money) of new aircraft.. do you expect him to come before them and say “our fighter is the nicest and most perfect bird there will be for the next 1000 years? Look at the USAF generals when speaking to authorities, they had the “best fighter on the planet, with over 100 kills without any losses, it’s the best out there…” and so on; but when they needed budgets for their next new and shiny toy: “we’re completely outclassed, we need the next thing…” , even if those that “outclassed them” were exactly the same that were dominated a few years before

What did Gen. Lanata say? The discretion (or stealth if you prefer) and communications are absolutely essential – nobody disagrees with that

the Rafale developers didn’t wait for the F-35 to develop means to get by the radars or include data fusion not only inside the aircraft itself but between several of them. Fact is that you have to go that route, communicate always more, defeat radars by any mean as long as it is effective, and it is also a fact that every aircraft has to be improved all the time, but at some point needs to be replaced, and that replacement has to be planned long before, and the delays get longer and longer as developments are more and more complex, it’s no secret

SpudmanWP

Sorry, I’ve been a little distracted the last couple of weeks…
Car accident (totaled) due to a leg infection going septic, week in the hospital, buy a new car, schedule an amputation below the knee so that I can never have the issue again.. You know, typical krap

Sorry to read that Spud.. 🙁

I’m still stuck at home almost 18 months after my truck crash (also was very lucky not to hurt or kill anyone)… So that news touches me even more than before… I’d just say stay strong and get well (the best possible way) soon…

Neither program seems at all as ambitious as the vague next round of fighter aircraft for the US Navy and US Air Force, which seem to be focusing on low range, high magazine capacity, all aspect stealth (no vertical tail fins), electronic warfare, and who knows what else.

Considering the french have an international policy that requires them to go to wars around the planet, and the fact that they produced quite competitive fighters until now, I’m wondering on what you base your assumption that they plan for introduction in 2040-2050 timeframe something that would be comparable to the F-35 version that would fly in a couple of years from now…

you really must have some confidence problems with your pet program, to repeatedly bring it back into a thread that’s not about it (and where probably most don’t give a damn about it).. like posting a comment made one month ago on the signature between germans and french..

Another smoke screen, huh?

What is the price you pay for an aircraft… the thingy made of metal, composites and so on, that you put a guy inside and see fly? Simple: ONE AIRCRAFT… you have one price… the price you pay to the manufacturer when you get the aircraft… not composite price including this or that, not that a little of that, and so on… the price of one aircraft…

strange how a simple concept can scare some people so much…