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RAFALE seems to be loosing the race..850 TR modules ( if true ) will be one of the many setbacks in RAFALE's campaign..
Both F-16/18 has nerrow nose so the radar diameter or T/R can not be improve any more , where as with mig-35 having wider nose , diameter of their radar can be improve by putting the radar a bit back..
Without the actual data (which is tough to get, coz' most of the data is classified), RBE 2 is just another AESA radar in development, nothing special about it.
RAFALE seems to be loosing the race..850 TR modules ( if true ) will be one of the many setbacks in RAFALE's campaign..
with 850 T/R , radar range for 2.5m2 RCS target will be around 100km..
both amarican and russia has AESA with 1500T/R with a range of 150km...
russian offered a improve version of their AESA with more diameter and T/R with a range of 200km..
Both F-16/18 has nerrow nose so the radar diameter or T/R can not be improve any more , where as with mig-35 having wider nose , diameter of their radar can be improve by putting the radar a bit back..
The specs shown at AI says, diameter of 688mm now, but detection of the same target at 160Km. They added more than 100mm and now have approx 1000 TR modules, but increased the detection range only by 30Km, so how much do they have to add to get the missing 40Km?
So if the RBE 2 AESA radar offers the detection range that IAF requires, according to the RFP, the smaller size won't be a reason dismiss Rafale.
India should buy the best planes. But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may force US aircraft upon the Air Force.
Intense dogfights were witnessed last week at Aero India 2011 in Bangalore between eight countries representing six fighter aircraft for clinching Indias biggest defence contract: The 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft worth $10 billion. The aircraft are Boeings F/A-18 Super Hornet, Lockheed Martins F-16 IN Super Viper, MiG Corporations MiG-35, Saabs Gripen NG, Dassaults Raphael and a four-nation European consortiums Eurofighter, Typhoon.
For the United States, which in the last five years has sold more defence equipment to India than it has in the last 50, bagging the deal has become both a prestige issue as well as a return for its critical investment in the India-US strategic partnership epitomised by the 123 civil nuclear agreement.
Lobbying for the contract is picking up as the sealed envelope containing the short list will be opened in the Ministry of Defence in April or May this year and the contract signed either in September 2011 or March 2012. The commercial bids by the six contestants are also sealed and kept with the Ministry of Defence.
From US President Barack Obama to Carnegie Endowments Ashley Tellis, all are canvassing for the US fighter aircraft and hinting it is payback time for India: 126 after 123. In April, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be in New Delhi for the India-US strategic dialogue just when the envelope will be unsealed.
Last week US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia Geoffrey Pyatt, at a policy forum in Singapore, spoke about Washingtons preparedness to share with India now, the most advanced technology in the defence and economic domain. He said the US was talking to New Delhi a lot about the two strong American competitors for the 126 MMRCA deal.
Such a deal if it happened, he added, would revolutionise our military relationship. Also last week, Mr Andrew Shapiro, US Assistant Secretary of State, Political and Military Bureau at the State Department, was in New Delhi, pitching for military sales among other items of defence cooperation.
Indian defence analysts have told their American counterparts that despite certain glitches the Indo-Russian strategic partnership has endured. While Russia has leased a nuclear submarine to India for a second time, unpleasant memories of the US cutting critical supplies still linger. The political content of the India-US strategic partnership has to touch greater heights of mutual trust.
In 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh noted that politics plays a big part in defence deals. Indians are only too familiar with the political inducements of the Swedish Government on late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 over the Bofors contract and the Russian cajolery of Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao in 1991 over the Sukhoi deal consummated without any evaluation.
Another dicey contract was the one on Mirage 2000 brokered in 1982 jointly by Mr Sanjay Gandhi and Defence Secretary KPA Menon, once again without any technical evaluation as the aircraft did not exist. They tried to scuttle the perfectly legitimate Jaguar contract of 1978 negotiated by the Morarji Desai-led Janata Party Government but the British authorities blocked the attempt. While mega cost defence acquisitions were driven by political considerations (and kickbacks) quality of equipment was not compromised.
Industrialist Ratan Tata flew the F-18 and actor Shahid Kapoor piloted the F-16. The single-engine F-16 was also flown by the Indian Air Forces most versatile and highly decorated fighter pilot Retd Air Marshal Jimmy Bhatia at Bangalore. None of their efforts will enhance the rating of these fighters in the IAFs technical, flight and staff evaluation chart. The F-16 is a non-flyer because the Pakistan Air Force has had it in its inventory for 30 years. The twin-engine F-18 seems to have also missed the mark. The Russian MiG 35, a souped up MiG 29 did not show up in Bangalore. The Gripen is a great aircraft but single-engine and a lightweight equivalent of an improved Tejas LCA.
That leaves the two high-priced European contenders, Rafael and Typhoon, neck-and-neck in the race. Rather late in the day, Lockheed Martin and US Under Secretary of State for Defence Ashton Carter have indicated willingness to include India in the F-35 Advanced Stealth Fighter Programme.
India and Russia are already engaged in jointly developing the fifth generation fighter aircraft. That practically closes the door for an American fighter joining the IAF inventory. Two years ago senior IAF officers were even recommending splitting the 126 MMRCA between US and Russia.
The sealed envelope with its performance rating of the six aircraft was handed over by the IAF to the Ministry of Defence in July 2010 but a parallel dogfight is on over the offset policy between those for and against it. The MMRCA procurement procedure has been complicated by an unviable offset policy and unrealistic FDI cap of 26 per cent.
The six companies competing for the MMRCA were asked to explain their offset strategy by end this month. Authoritative sources in the IAF are drawing a possible option: On the short list are the two twin-engine European fighters, Rafael and Typhoon, both excellent but very expensive aircraft at a flyaway cost upwards of $100 million apiece. This is distinct from the lifecycle cost which could increase by 25 per cent. A third contender, the American F-18, could sneak into the short list.
Next month, when the commercial bids are opened, L1 (lowest bidder) will be invited to negotiate the final cost with the Price Negotiating Committee.
Ashley Telliss report, titled Dogfight Indias MMRCA Decision, highlights how the IAF has declined 29 fighter squadrons and only by 2017 will they be restored to the authorised 39.5 squadrons. He believes that cost, technology transfers and the facility to fit into the evolving IAF force structure will determine the choice. He says that while European aircraft are technically superb, US entrants with older designs are best buys. The US offer should be compensated, he adds, by generous technology transfer and assured access to fifth generation aircraft.
Union Minister for Defence AK Antony has repeatedly and emotionally, said that merit not politics will decide the winning aircraft. Yet only the US has the will and capacity to help raise Indias global power profile. Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs political instinct may let the F-18 plus fly into the ultimate deal.
when it comes to rafale you are advocating according to the RFP..
when it comes to mig-35 , you are calculating well above and maximun RFP.....
For RAFALE lovers...
Rafale F3 and AREOS Reco NG: the 21st century reconnaissance team
When the RAFALE programme was launched, the Armée de lAir and the Marine Nationale (the French Air Force and the French Navy) published a joint requirement for a balanced multirole aircraft that would be able to replace seven types of combat aircraft then in use.
The new aircraft would have to be able to carry out an extremely wide range of missions:
- Air-defence / air-superiority,
- Reconnaissance,
- Close air support,
- Precision strike / interdiction with conventional weapons
(air-to-ground and anti-ship attacks),
- Nuclear strikes.
To to understand what kind of advantage that is, consider an EF with AESA radar turned on, alongside an Rafale in passive mode and both are heading towards a stealth fighter with its AESA turned on as well.
The stealth fighter will detect the EF and Rafale at long range, while the EF radar can't detect anything even if it's only 150Km away. The Rafale instead can detect radar signals with it's RWR up to 200Km away (twice the range of EFs RWR) and altough it can't track, or guide a missile at that range, it knows that an aircraft is there way earlier than the EF.
The DASS is to be a highly modular system. Each DASS has five processors, developed and produced by Radstone Technology PLC (Towcester, UK). The DASS will consists of a radar-warning-receiver/electronic-support-measures (RWR/ESM) unit with an initial frequency range of 100 MHz to 18 GHz (unconfirmed by company or users), which is probably to be increased to 40 GHz for Tranche 2/Block 10. The RWR/ESM system works with the use of a wideband super-heterodyne system able to perform quick searches for electromagnetic emitters. The processor of the RWR/ESM system will be able to locate emitters through triangulation conducted in sequence. The accuracy of the RWR/ESM is to be below one degree in azimuth. The distance of the exact location of emitters (to the sides of the aircraft, where detection will be more accurate) is to be at least 100 km. The identification of emitters will enable threat prioritization, with information presented on a moving map or on any multifunction display as needed.
Another important part of the DASS is a built-in electronic-countermeasures (ECM) system with the same spherical (360-degree) coverage around the aircraft as the RWR/ESM and (probably) the same frequency coverage. The ECM system is to work in several different modes and use directional beams for deception or noise jamming against threat emitters tracked by the RWR/ESM system. According to some sources, this part of the DASS on Italian aircraft was developed by Elettronica and is called Cross Eye
During the ATLC exercise in the UAE, the Rafale got several BVR kills against the EF, although they still had the RBE 2 PESA radar only. EF normally should have a good advantage in BVR, going by paper specs (longer range radar, longer range missiles, low RCS, carries 6 x AAMs in every mission), but a passive Rafale is hard to detect too, because it has a low RCS and don't emits any signals. They guided their MICA missiles with SPECTRA EWS, after identifying the opponent with the TV channel of FSO, all completely passive without even the need to use the radar.
See, don't get me wrong, I found it out of context because of the french link you posted (Le détachement français en action sur le salon Aeroindia) had nothing like you had quoted. I just thought you hate Rafale so much that you misinterpreted.
In any case, apart from Eurofighter Aero India 2011 blog I did not find any other reliable sources confirming the failure of Rafale. But again, I'm not shrugging in disbelief, it could have very well happened. I do think Rafale has its own set of problems (not sure how many?). Though the French have been a reliable defense partner of India and their Mirage 2000 is the best example. Eurofighter could be a better choice if it was little more mature in A to G, AESA and price. I do understand your point about the "Butterfly effect" and welcome your concern. I hope Sancho will provide some clarification regarding the Aero India incident?