Abingdonboy
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SO $24 billion TO BUY 125
Wow, your figures are off- even the order numbers!
And Pakistanis are accused of needless speculation and fantasy . From plain news,and something known as common sense, it is clear that the deal is put off until a new government comes in. There are many reasons for this.. the new GoI could be aggressive towards past policies in an effort to whitewash its predecessor and cancel or review the deal(delaying it further) , A new government signing the deal would absolve the current one of any problems(if it goes sour)..and so on. Secondly, the government requires a smooth sailing for elections and signing a $20 billion plus deal give your opposition a lot of political ammo.
The Rafale or MMRCA is not the holy grail though, it is built around IAF requirements and if the IAF finds itself unable to meet its requirements(or revised req...which it does yearly) with the deal then it can go for something else. I find this unlikely.. from a very businessman point of view.
Every deal goes through a cost analysis and the whole feasibility thing.. where NPVs are taken(even if in some other name and so on). The IAF probably gamed out other alternatives to putting its $20 billion elsewhere(quick FGFA,LCA Mk2, AMCA etc etc) and the benefits it would bring.. and at the end arrived at the MMRCA program. So unless heaven forbid there is a massive natural disaster in India that wreaks its economy.. I would consider the MMRCA deal safe(if albeit prone to more delays) .
Sir the deal is NOT $20BN, this is a fallacy that some ignorant types like to flout. And all the other things you have said have been accepted for some time now both the Indian and French sides have said as much. The Rafale contract will only be signed by the next GoI but 100% before the end of 2014- I believe the CEO of Dassualt said sometime in the Summer.
The MMRCA process has been clean throughout that is undeniable so there is no ammo in which to scupper the deal with.
Of course they will conduct a professional analysis but what I was saying is that the Saudis/RSAF are not constrained by the same sort of finical restraints as other AFs around the world. The Gripen is pretty much tailored to the latter, its main selling point is affordability/cost effectiveness. As far as capabilities go the Rafale has it beat.I am not sure how you perceive saudi goverment as if whatever they want they throw money at without consolations and professional evaluations. I said it before if Rafale was of a great benefit they would have gone to french for it and maybe even more F-15s would have been dropped...even a radical plan why Rafale when F-15 with excellent capabilities for A2A/A2G can do the job very well and is still relative cheaper than Rafale and comes with much wider range of weapons suite plus the infrastructure is in place.
As for the F-15 vs Rafale, I would venture that political considerations come into play here, almost the entire Saudi military inventory is of US origin and the USG has a lot of sway with the royal family.
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