exactly how much ‘IP’ do the partner countries have in the F-35 ? it’s almost completely US designed. whatever original work done by partner countries is from basically 1 country, the UK. the rest are simply getting some production orders.

I really don’t see how they have a veto on the basis of ‘stealing their IP’, given that it’s not theirs in the first place.

Not true. 🙂

Apparently the F-22, Rafale and Typhoon have sent 6 of each aircraft to the UAE for an exercise, (no doubt the F-22 will have gone all that way to not be in the sky at the same time:diablo:).

Has anyone got any details of this advanced tactical leadership exercise in the UAE, AFAIK its being run out of Al Dhafra, near Abu Dhabi.

Typhoons from Coningsby 3 sqn are there and maybe some Pakistani aircraft too.

Cheers

That could be interesting. Especially if the F-22 is there for comparison purposes…..

Do you know of a JSF Partner that would not approve of a sale of F-35’s to India???

BTW I guess everyone approves of the sale of F-35’s to Israel then……..

Probably depends (in both cases) on whether they think the customer would want to steal their IP. In both cases that might be worrying. Israel have been making lots of money doing Mid-Life Updates and India are after as much Technology transfer as they can get their hands on.

1) Brazil can’t afford to replace her. They can’t even afford to operate her all that much.

2) India cannot afford F-35B or C, actually, half a chance they wont be offered it due to sensitive technologies.

What portion of India’s budget goes towards the Military? How can they afford all these fighters while at the same time developing SSBN’s, new Aircraft Carriers etc?

There GDP is only 20% higher then ours (Australia) but they seem to be spending a heck of a lot more money.

No, is because manned planes have a way shorther response time than UAVs

How so?

Two prototypes destroyed, one a complete hull loss incident is hardly a good track record. Name me another *modern* aircraft with a 2/2 crash record? :diablo:

I’ve given this a lot of thought, and everything points to 24 Rafales being an absurdly low number. So if there’s any truth to this number, IMHO it must reflect peacetime budgetary constraints and not the way CdG could be operated in wartime, or the way another navy such as the USN would operate her.

USN CVN benchmark
USN CVNs had a 72% space utilization rate during OIF, and achieved very high sustained sortie rates despite this (2x per aircraft for 3 weeks, i.e. 125 sorties per day). USN CVNs in the 1980s and 1990s had even higher space utilization rates, but sortie rates may have been lower. CdG’s space utilization rate with 30 Rafales and 2 E-2Cs is 66%. With 24 Rafales this number falls to 54%, which would imply that the French navy doesn’t know how to use parking space efficiently.

Clemenceau benchmark
Clemenceau could carry 36 fixed wing of Super Etendard size, despite the fact that her parking space was only 6,800m2 (3,500m2 deck parking + 3,300m2 hangar). CdG has 20-25% more parking space (8,400-8,900m2), which would be enough to carry around 45 Super Etendards.

CdG’s design objectives
CdG was designed for an air group of 35-40 aircraft, with F/A-18s providing the fixed wing component. If you take that as meaning 36 F/A-18s and 4 helos, that adds up to 5,300m2. Which in turn translates to about 30 Rafales, 2 E-2Cs and 4 helos.

CdG deck parking analysis
CdG can accomodate 14 Rafales in deck parking without interfering with launch or recovery operations (6 on bow, 8 behind the island), and in a fairly efficient layout for aircraft movements. The hangar can accommodate roughly 18 Rafales and E-2Cs. That’s a total of 30 Rafales and 2 E-2Cs

French parliament reports
In 2003, they stated CdG’s capacity as 32 Rafale.

Does parking behind the island include impinging on the lifts (preventing movements from the hangers)?

Does CdG have enough fuel or ammunition storage to support that many aircraft?

Does CdG carry helicopters? Because they reduce the number of Rafale’s that can be carried. And 2 E-2’s isnt enough for 24/7 coverage.

How much space does CdG’s propulsion plant take up compared to that on CVF or even her predecessors?

How are the hangers arranged? Depending on arrangement, total area does not tell you how much is “usable”.

Does rafale need more and bigger maintenance equipment then the SE?

Lots of factors to take into account.

Oh, is that 32 rafale number with or without other aircraft? (E-2 & Helicopters)