Dassault Rafale, tender | News & Discussions

[Marxist]

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for first time is considering suing BAe Systems for not providing Tools, Machinery and Spares for the construction of BAe Hawk 132 in India, In 2004 India signed a contract with British Aerospace Manufacture BAE Systems for 66 Hawk Mk. 115Y export variant Hawk 132, 24 of this jets where supposed to be delivered by BAE Systems and rest to be manufactured in India by HAL based in Bangalore.

Trouble came out in open when soon after induction, a Hawk was lost in air accident, BAe systems initially blamed Pilot error for the cause of the jet, IAF inquiry found that Faulty spares were the reasons for the jets crash, soon many incidents of unprofessional ism shown by BAe system started coming out in open, Instead of solving the problems, BAe Systems was finding loop holes in the original contract to put the blame back on India.

Even on the Induction day in Feb 2008 IAF and HAL were struggling to make HAWK jets airworthy in front of A.K. Anthony India’s Defence minister and other dignitaries present at that time ,HAL was not only provided wrong tools and Machinery but also faulty and Second hand spares ,IAF had to limit the Training of the pilots on the jets , Grounding of HTT-32 due to design flaws effected air forces Training of new pilots in a big manner last year , things moved to such a situation where IAF has issued new Request for Information on new jet Trainers instead of a follow on orders on Hawks . BAe Systems have been in past done the same with other exports customers in Middle East.

Euro fighter Typhoon jets currently in India to take part in 10 Billion $ race to provide India with 126 jets in the MMRCA competition may take the beating due to BAe systems, Euro-fighter Typhoon which is been designed with three prime partners, one of them been BAe Systems. Defence Expert Rajesh Sharma told idrw.org that HAWK experience with HAL and IAF have not gone down well with officials, order cutbacks by Development partners in Europe has forced Euro fighter GmbH a Parent company to look for major orders outside, Only Export order has come from Saudi Arabia but since most of the jets will be manufactured in Europe and HAL which will be manufacturing more than 100 of this jets in India. if Euro fighter is selected HAL may face same ordeal it faced with HAWKs, Mr. Sharma also pointed out that European firm has a higher price for the jet compared to others jets, also spares are worth Gold, even up gradation costs as much of that of half cost of the jet which he was referring to Indo-French 10000 cores upgrade package for the IAF’s Mirage2000s fleet.

Mr. Sharma also pointed out that Singapore went on and purchased F-15 due to uncertainty over Typhoon tranche 2 delivery dates and Saudi Arabia was only provided with Typhoon tranche 2 which were built for Royal British Air force , since AESA radar is the main Requirement in MMRCA deal Euro fighter Typhoon AESA is still in development and still to be integrated and accepted in any developing partner country of the jets which may delay the whole induction of this jets in Air force which is in urgent need of new jets to replace old Migs which have been phased out in recent time .

BAe Hawk 132 may shoot down Eurofighter in MMRCA idrw.org

currently main earners of mmrca competition is media,defence blogs and public forums.always speculation and counter stories.may be the companies providing them in lump sum,for some time it was f-18,mig, Rafael,now ef .only god knows wat the outcome is.announcement of the winner will be a gr8 thing

 

[sancho]

Typhoon is still the best choice. Eurofighter conveyed to the IAF that they would have AESA ready by 2014-15, likely be when the MRCA enters service.

I am sure the winner will blow the trumpet of a new strategic alliance with India and many future defence contracts running and yet to come. Anyway if India were to get 250 units of FGFA at $100m each, it comes to a massive $25bn, i dont think so russian will be unhappy if MRCA goes to Typhoon.

Why would IAF want to import Gripen when the indigenously designed and produced LCA satisfies the IAF's requirements?

I am really curious to find out who wins the LCA engine contract..

It's for sure a good fighter, but definitely not the best choice for IAF! Also IAF wants to induct the first squadron of MMRCA in 2014 (3 years after contract could be signed), but EF the latest news say, EF gets an operational AESA only by 2015,or even later. If that is correct, EF don't fullfil the requirements and will be out soon after the trials.

 

[zeus]

i didn’t got paid by any rival American company , first of all i have not mentioned anything like that in the article nor i want American jet in IAF since we will have to heavy invest in new Infrastructure in IAF base which are not present since we never operated American jets ,Even i wanted EF to win until i had a little talk with Mr sharma who has some inside information ,i am not ruling out that EF will not win but India needs to be very careful when the contract is laid out so that Europeans don’t find loop holes in them to get away with after sales , Like every Indian when purchasing a car or a bike out of his hard earned money will make sure he has some decent after sales ,same is there with Aircraft’s we don’t want Hangar queens which only fly at airshows and ceremony’s ,Mr sharma also pointed out to me an interesting fact that BAe (earlier known has British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) ) also ditched us in Jaguar production they were supposed to provide us with detail blueprint of Jaguars for production in India but they only provided some basic blue prints it was the HAL engineers which with there shear knowledge were still able to keep Jaguar production in line , what Saudis will be doing is just assembling provided kit of Typhoon in Saudi ,but we will be doing deep TOT and local manufacturing for which machinery and tools have to be provided by the aircraft manufacture if we get similar service like we got with HAWKS we will have advance jets but mostly Hangar queens . with PAK-FA,Tejas,MKI,MCA in piple line MMRCA jets will not be front line jets for long other then AESA radars there is nothing much we are getting in terms of new technology , i personally support Gripen NG

 

[jha]

^^^ copy paste from IDRW....are you the admin..???

 

[Dash]

I am sure it will be a mistake if India goes for EFT at this point of time. No doubt its a good plane but due to many reasons as we have discussed, doesnt fit it into Air force's logic.

iam sure after EFT goes down, the copetition will be among Rafale and F18. Both are potent fighters.

I will vote for Rafale.
My 2 cents.

 

[Dark Angel]

IAF Wants Extra Radar Mode On MMRCA AESAs

For all the stated technological advancements present in the only two operational AESA radars competing in the MMRCA competition, the Indian Air Force has informed the two principle integrators (Boeing and Lockheed-Martin respectively) that radar modes available on the Northrop-Grumman AN/APG-80 radar (F-16IN) and the Raytheon AN/APG-79 (F/A-18E/F) do not include a specific one that the IAF refuses to do without: the "weather radar mode". Though both Boeing and Lockheed-Martin tried to convince the IAF that their respective radars (and integrated avionics) were built to provide data and flightpath solutions through, over or around bad weather, the IAF has insisted that it wants the AESAs offered with a traditional weather radar mode as a separate mode option. The default modes demanded by the IAF, excluding interleaved and data-fused modes, are air-to-air search, air-to-air track, ocean surface search, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mapping, ground/sea target indicator and track and active beam mapping.

Lockheed-Martin has made it official now that the APG-80 radar will therefore undergo a certain amount of further development work to meet the IAF's requirement. This applies to Raytheon as well.

 

[champion]

Rafael and f18 both should be selected order should be in two planes

 

[zeus]

^^^ copy paste from IDRW....are you the admin..???

Yes, i am Ajay

 

[swasthika]

Hi, superb article ..i am really proud.

 

[marcos98]

Jan Widerstrom, Saab talks about ~30 programs in India, Gripen, Samtel JV
8ak - Indian Defence News

01 Mar 2010 8ak: Jan Widerström, Saab India President talks to Manu Sood, Editor, 8ak about the ~25 programs they have responded to in India including missile defence, maritime patrol aircraft and the JV with Samtel Display System (SDS) for the RIGS Head Up Displays (HUD).

Eddy de la Motte, Director, Gripen for India says that the demonstrator aircraft is flying with the AESA and missile approach warner and that the Gripen will be in India in March 2010 for further tests.

SDS has also been designated as an offset partner should Saab's Gripen win the MMRCA bid. The second MoU announced during Defexpo 2010 for the RIGS (brochure), where SDS will assist in the development of RIGS electronics and software and will also develop and manufacture parts of the RIGS HUD.

RIGS, built on an open systems architecture, consists of one or two display units, to serve one or two crew members in cockpit, and an electronics unit. RIGS provides an electro-optical presentation system (head up display), which is used for presentation of navigation, attitude, flight, reticle and video/EVS information to the aircraft or helicopter crew by day, night and in adverse weather conditions.

Current Enhanced Vision Sensor (EVS) technology connected to RIGS enables pilots to see through darkness, smog, smoke and various levels of snow, rain and fog. Safety is therefore enhanced via early detection of runway incursions and improved awareness of terrain during night and day operations and to prevent controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and White-/Brown-out accidents.

Mr. Puneet Kaura, Executive Director, SDS said that the system will initially be marketed to the Indian commercial and military airborne market but SDS will look at leveraging their relationship with HAL and also look at the export market in the near future.

 

[ice_man]

what is the timeframe that india has planned to finalize a contender? will IAF decide on one in 2010 or not???

 

[Shaggy82]

Hi all,

I have read lately..euro fighter is in the race to win the MRCA..

Eurofighter have offered india Partnership in the program and full transfer of technology...

not to forget it has proven to be a competent fighter jet.

They will trnsfer the manufacturing base to india.

this will allow india to produce world class fighter jet at home.

shaggy

 

[syntax_error]

Hi all,

I have read lately..euro fighter is in the race to win the MRCA..

Eurofighter have offered india Partnership in the program and full transfer of technology...

not to forget it has proven to be a competent fighter jet.

They will trnsfer the manufacturing base to india.

this will allow india to produce world class fighter jet at home.

shaggy

Its not that simple I promise u that brother .....

 

[Shaggy82]

The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Monday said the trials for the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) acquisition is on course and the exercise could be wrapped by April this year.

Of the six fighter aircraft competing in the $ 10.2-billion deal, Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik said, three – French Rafale and American F16 and F18 – have completed all three phases of the trials while the rest are going through it.

“By the end of April trials will be over and we will take a couple of months to finalise [IAF assessment on the fighter plans],” Air Chief said here at a press conference. The trials began last autumn with Boeing flying in the F18/A to Bangalore.

European consortium’s Eurofighter ‘Typhoon,’ Sweden’s Grippen and Russian MiG35 have completed two phases. The IAF has asked all the bidders to hold trials across different weather conditions at Bangalore, Leh and Jaisalmer and then for field orientation trials at the manufacturer’s location where efficacy of weapons systems will be tested.

Having completed its first phase, two Typhoon aircraft flew into Bangalore last week for the trials starting on Monday. The company representative Matthias Schmidlin told The Hindu during Defexpo-2010 that the last phase is expected to take place during April in Germany, where the IAF will test aircraft’s weapon system and advanced sensors.

SAAB from Sweden has fielded Grippen which will bring its aircraft to India next month for second phase of trials. It completed the third phase earlier. Russian MiG35 will have to undergo the third phase.

Most of the manufacturers who were here during the Defexpo were happy at the pace at which the trials were progressing. “We are impressed by the speed at which it [trials] is progressing and it is a clear sign for early decision” Mr. Schmidlin said.

As per the terms of the contract, the first 18 aircraft will be flown-in by the manufacturer while the rest will be made in India under licensed production. It also entails that the manufacturer will plough back 50 per cent of the total value of the contract in India.

shaggy

 

[Chaluboy]

The Indian ambassador to Italy recently mentioned that EF is the front runner ... Is that just diplomatic fluff ?