That’s it ..Rafale has lost in Brazil.. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the news..

Although President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his preference for the Rafale, Brazil has not yet decided on the purchase of fighter planes.

Rafale has already been chosen because it has won both technically and politically so whats left??

and possibly Airbus as well, given they say they are not in talks with any other manufacturer.

John LEAHY’s time at Airbus is precious ,he would wouldn’t waist it with a blackmailing idiot ..

http://tacticalreport.com/view_news/Royal_Air_Force_of_Oman_F-16_and_the_Rafale_option/754
Royal Air Force of Oman, F-16 and the Rafale option
Posted on: Mon, Aug 10, 2009
Sultan Qaboos of Oman is said to be showing interest in buying more F-16 fighter jets for the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO), while thinking of the Eurofighter and maintaining the Rafale option. The following 348-word report sheds light on the subject and tells why the Rafale option is still maintained and whether it still has chances to be taken or not. Note that RAFO has already 12 F-16s in service.

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http://tacticalreport.com/view_news/Oman_expects_progress_in_talks_on_F-16_deal/794
Oman expects progress in talks on F-16 deal
Posted on: Wed, Sep 09, 2009
The Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) expects progress in talks with the Americans to buy more F-16 aircraft. The following 314-word report focuses on the issue and tells what makes the Omanis expect such a progress. Besides the F-16 aircraft, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is still looking for an Omani order for the Dassault-made Rafale aircraft, while BAE Systems is still seeking to place offer with Oman for the Eurofighter.

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http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/11/16/334926/dubai-09-lockheed-set-to-close-egypt-f-16-sale.html
Dubai 09: Lockheed set to close Egypt F-16 sale
By Stephen Trimble

Lockheed Martin confirms that talks with Egypt to buy a seventh batch of F-16s are in the final stage of negotiations and a contract is expected imminently.

The US Congress has already approved the sale of up to 24 F-16s as part of a programme called Peace Vector VII. The final negotiations, however, are for a reduced package of 20 F-16s, says Rick Groesch, Lockheed’s regional vice-president for Middle East business development.

Groesch says F-16 orders are normally followed by deliveries starting 36 months later, but the final negotiations include discussions for accelerating the delivery schedule.

Egypt has purchased more than 220 F-16s since the Peace Vector series of contracts began in the early 1980s. Lockheed executives first indicated earlier this year that a follow-on deal with Egypt was likely. It was not clear until recently, however, if US policy would support additional F-16 sales.

But President Barack Obama’s speech on Middle East policy in May was held in Cairo, elevating the US relationship with Egypt in regional issues.

The Egypt deal follows relatively recent contracts signed by Oman and the United Arab Emirates for new F-16s. The UAE order introduced the Block 60 version. Oman’s purchase, meanwhile, ushered in the Harpoon anti-ship missile for carriage by the F-16 fleet.

Lockheed currently has 76 F-16s in the order backlog, with deliveries scheduled up until 2012. Signing the deal with Egypt was critical to avoid a costly gap on Lockheed’s production line.

Lockheed also remains in talks with Iraq and Qatar in the region for new F-16 sales. Other countries, such as Oman and the UAE, have discussed follow-on F-16 purchases with Lockheed, Groesch said.

Middle East militaries are also keen, however, to move beyond so-called fourth-generation fighters, such as the F-16. A top UAE military officer on Saturday said he hoped his country would have a fifth-generation fighter within a couple years.

The US government has not previously identified any country in the Middle East other than Israel as a sales target for the Lockheed F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, although briefings dating back to 2002 listed the region in long-term sales projections.

Groesch confirms that interest in the Middle East for the F-35 is real.

“All the customers I talk to in the Gulf,” he says, “want to fly the F-35.”

OMAN: CLOSE TIES TO THE UK ,THEREFORE F-16 OR TYPHOON BUT NO RAFALE.
UAE: THE CHANCES OF RAFALE WITH AESA AND MORE POWERFUL ENGINES ISN’T BAD . BUT THE US DIDN’T SAY THE LAST WORD.. THE EMIRATES COULD INSTEAD BE PERSUADED TO BUY FEW MORE BLOCK 60 ‘S IN ADDITION TO 80 PLANES ALREADY DELIVERED AS THEY HAVE HEAVILY INVESTED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR AESA..
KUWAIT: MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN RAFALE ,BUT THE USA WON’T PERMIT IT.
ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT. DECISION BETWEEN SH OR F-16
SAUDI ARABIA: COULD BUY ADDITIONAL TYPHOONS AND F-15’S.. NO OTHER FIGHTER HAS A CHANCE HERE.
JORDAN AND EGYPT : F-16 AND F-16 ONLY.
TURKEY: F-16 AND F-16 ONLY AS THEY HAVE AN ASSEMBLY PLANT..

Flex,

Rafale improvements may result in a lot of things, but not that.

What do you think ?? will there be any other fighter out there except the RAPTOR that could give a Rafale with AESA ,Meteor ,and M88-3 even a decent tussle ??
The future Rafale is considered as the one and only threat to F-35 and the US government will try everything in his power to prevent Rafale from being sold outside France because without Rafale, the JSF will rule the skies for the next 2 decades except the Russians. The only bogey on the radar screen that could pose serious threat is the future RAFALE ,the only one with a comparable strike capability but superior A2A.
Killing the RAPTOR was a great mistake !

Not this old chestnut again?

Your specific examples:
Korea: What we know for certain is that Rafale lost to F-15. There are compelling suggestions that Rafale may have been preferred by the RoKAF, but no hard evidence. Remember that KX was decided in 2001-2 and look back at the state of the Typhoon programme. Not even Jackonicko would have bought Typhoon in 2002…..
Singapore: What we know for certain is that Rafale and Typhoon lost to F-15. There is a compelling body of evidence (all of it anecdotal) that Typhoon may have been preferred by the RSAF, but no hard evidence.
Switzerland: What we know for certain is that the Swiss haven’t decided yet, and that the Lucerne paper’s report that Rafale had won was dismissed by the air force as being ‘laughable’ and ‘stupid’.
Brazil What we know for certain is that the Brazilians haven’t decided yet, but we also know that there have been suggestions that different elements within the air force prefer Gripen or SH, and that industry favours Gripen. We know that Jobim ordered the air force not to reveal its preferred choice, and the obvious conclusion is that he did that to avoid embarrassment when Lula chooses Rafale.
India What we know for certain is that the Indians haven’t decided yet, but we also know that there were reports that Rafale had been eliminated, before protests by Dassault/the French. How that makes its chances “far bigger than Typhoon” eludes me.

As I said earlier . Rafale came before Typhoon in all these countries.
Korea: Pure political
Singapore: Politics again and Typhoon was eliminated before Rafale.
Brazil: We will wait and see..
India: The race is not over yet..Typhoon with its pure A2A capability doesn’t stand a chance.
Switzerland: Rafale is the best choice but in the end it might lose to Gripen
because of price and the limited procurement budget there.

A quite simplified and incomplete assessment. The truth is every aircraft is designed to meet its respective requirements, which are quite often conflicting. The result, trade offs has to be made. There are people bragging about all kind of non related things and repeat them over and over again in hope to deviate from unfavourable facts.

Incomplete maybe ..But how do you explain the fact that RAFALE has always emerged as winner against Typhoon in every single evaluation starting in Korea followed in Singapore, Switzerland, Brazil and you name it..Even in India, Rafales chances are far bigger than Typhoon.
Rafale has always reached the finals while Typhoon seldom saw the quarterfinal.

1) yes
2) unlikely

The computer models are validated by the tests. The test in May and June apparently unveiled a huge discrepancy between models and reality. Boeing could have made the first flight in June, but with the knowledge that the structure does certainly not make it to 150%. Considering that knowledge the FAA would have ripped the balls off Boeing, because that it is not the way you do it.

Commercial aircraft and engine manufacturers in the US fear two things;

1-FAA
2-GOD