India could buy up to 189 French Rafale fighter jets: sources

[Mercenary]

Damn, 189 Fighters.

Pakistani Military should invest in Good Missile Defence Systems. There is no way we can match India Fighter for Fighter but instead develop lethal SAM capability to shoot them down.

 

[The_Sidewinder]

Damn thats a good news.

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

But Jairam Ramesh must be pulling his hair out considering that he wanted the money to buy toilets instead!!

Toilets is a banned topic

 

[KingMamba]

Though I would love it but an IAF squadron consists of 18 ac (16 single seater & 2 trainers), so original 126 were needed to raise 7 squadrons & additional orders for 3 more, but that would had made a total figure to 180 ac, don't know what for that etc. 9 are???

@Abingdonboy @sancho , 9 for TACDE??



I thought they wanted MKIs to do the job??

War reserves???

 

[jnreno75]

we should get this signed by march 2013......

 

[IND151]

It is obvious that MoD will order additional jets.

Mig 21s and Jags will be retired in coming years and need to be replaced.

IAF also aims to keep squadron strength at 39.5 Squadrons.

Considering all this 126 jets are not enough.(mig 21 retirement will start in 2017)

 

[Manas]

Is that going force Pakistan stop beheading of our soldiers ?? 126 is enough .

Buying foreign arms isn't good sign anyway. Maximum encouragements should be given to indigenization . Availability of easy imported arms is another reason why military continuous to rejects LCA and other home made product on flimsy ground. I'm sure if missiles were on sale , indian military would have imported them rather than go for DRDO's missiles .

 

[IND151]

What seems to have been forgotton is the SFC's requirement for its own fleet of 40 fighter bombers, I wonder if this requirment will be filled by the Rafale in lare follow-on orders?


It is a good point you make but, yes, I do think it is a good idea to go for an additional 63 (2-3 SQDs worth) as the IAF is faced with a serious SQD scarcity with 2017 being the year when most MIG-21s and MIG-27s are retired not to mention 1-2 Jaguar SQDs will also be retired. And yes there is a serious need for HAL to ensure they meet deadlines with the Rafale production. I would hope, in an ideal world, that the additional 63 were built simultaneously by Dassualt in France so the IAF got 2 times as many Rafales delivered per year. It is going to be a HUGE challenge for HAL to absorb all the tech and then build the Rafales from scratch and any possible delays need to be addressed before they occur, having offsite production in France by workers that have been chruning out these beasts for many years would be a nice safety net for the IAF IMHO.

possible. I feel they will be equipped with 1200 KM Range version of Nirbhay.

 

[Manas]

BTW when do they going to sign the 126 wala contract...after Rafale goes obsolete ??

 

[sweetgrape]

India is too much rich, there are more than 100 india military deals for Global defence companies every year, from bullet to nuclear submarine and Carrier. but nothing to do with China, too sad, lose the good chance to make money!!

 

[sancho]

this is what I meant- these 63 should be produced by Dassulat and delivered to the IAF parallel

Doubtful that it really goes in parallel, at least not in the same numbers. Dassault can increase their rate up to 30, of which currently 11 will be for French forces. HAL will increase the rate slowly and might be able to provide the first squad only after 2 years (which is normal for a licence production). That's why I prefer to get at 3 squads from Dassault directly, to cover the shortcomings, while HALs rate can slowly increased without pressure.

Though I would love it but an IAF squadron consists of 18 ac (16 single seater & 2 trainers), so original 126 were needed to raise 7 squadrons & additional orders for 3 more, but that would had made a total figure to 180 ac, don't know what for that etc. 9 are???

@Abingdonboy @sancho , 9 for TACDE??

Or may be i am wrong & a squadron will consist of 21 ac to raise 9 squads in all.



I thought they wanted MKIs to do the job??

The squadron size is mention with 18, but possibly a mix of 12/6 single/twin seaters. How many of the optional (IF they really will be procured, since it's not fixed), would be raised to squadron size needs to be seen, some of them could be put in reserve, like it was done with some Mirage 2000s too.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Though I would love it but an IAF squadron consists of 18 ac (16 single seater & 2 trainers), so original 126 were needed to raise 7 squadrons & additional orders for 3 more, but that would had made a total figure to 180 ac, don't know what for that etc. 9 are???

@Abingdonboy @sancho , 9 for TACDE??

Or may be i am wrong & a squadron will consist of 21 ac to raise 9 squads in all.

2-4 will be for TACDE, the remaining will be war/crash spares AKAIK.

I thought they wanted MKIs to do the job??

I don't know if an offical call has been made on SFC requimrent just yet mate. IMHO Rafales would be an ideal choice for SFC.


I feel though that 40 high performance fighters (whether MKI or Rafale) for SFC is far too many. IIRC these were going to be completly seperate from the entire IAF fleet and would be the SFC's very own fighters meaning they wouldn't nessercarily take part in a conventional offensive/defence conflict. Having 40 such fighters sitting around idle seems like a waste. Maybe I've got it wrong or the reports were misleading and the IAF would do what the FrAF do ie have x amount of fighters/pilots trained and ready for nuclear strike but they are still a part of the regular fleet. If this is the case then of these 189 or even the MKI's 272 40 could be hard-wired for nuke strike.

 

[SEAL]

Pehle 126 ka to order confirm kar lo.

 

[arp2041]

2-4 will be for TACDE, the remaining will be war/crash spares AKAIK.




I don't know if an offical call has been made on SFC requimrent just yet mate. IMHO Rafales would be an ideal choice for SFC.


I feel though that 40 high performance fighters (whether MKI or Rafale) for SFC is far too many. IIRC these were going to be completly seperate from the entire IAF fleet and would be the SFC's very own fighters meaning they wouldn't nessercarily take part in a conventional offensive/defence conflict. Having 40 such fighters sitting around idle seems like a waste. Maybe I've got it wrong or the reports were misleading and the IAF would do what the FrAF do ie have x amount of fighters/pilots trained and ready for nuclear strike but they are still a part of the regular fleet. If this is the case then of these 189 or even the MKI's 272 40 could be hard-wired for nuke strike.

Firstly, Yes there were indeed news of SFC going for 40 ac (2 squads) specially for nuke strike role.

Secondly, NO, they won't be sitting ideally at a time of any emergency b'coz at a time of war if GOI thinks that even a bicycle can be used in a war effort (literally) they will be used, & here we are talking about 40 state of the art ac.

Thirdly, I think su-30mki should be an ideal choice since IAF is already experienced in operating these birds & they have already shown how capable they are. Plus, since there primary role will be only nuke strikes, there is no sense in buying a more costlier ac in the shape of Rafale.

 

[faithfulguy]

@ Abingdonboy
did you think is good for IAF to go addition 63 rafale coze HAL did not complete the 108 a/c before 2022 and at that time FGFA is in production, did you think it is better to buy 5gen(FGFA) then 4.5(Rafale)

Who knows when FGFA will be in production. Better with 1 bird at hand and 2 birds yet to hatch.