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India selects EF, Rafale for MMRCA shortlist

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From the various news reports an interviews from Dassualt it seems they are emphising how hard Indian Offset requirements are how they will be "difficult to fill". Does this mean they are unable to do so? Is this foreshadowing for what is to come- inability to fulfil offset requimrents? If so will entire process be called off? Are EFT consortium having the same difficulties in this regard?
 
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From the various news reports an interviews from Dassualt it seems they are emphising how hard Indian Offset requirements are how they will be "difficult to fill". Does this mean they are unable to do so? Is this foreshadowing for what is to come- inability to fulfil offset requimrents? If so will entire process be called off? Are EFT consortium having the same difficulties in this regard?

During the press conference a journalist asked the CEO about the competition and dealing with Indians. He said that he talked with Russians and that they stated that it sometimes could be better to loose in India, then to win, because of the high demands for licence production and stuff...(the crowd laughed)
The CEO answered that the Russians are still selling their fighters to the Indians, adding that Dassault has experience with Indians for decades now and sold nearly any generation of fighters to us and he hopes to sell the Rafale as well, but...
...he admitted that the offset negotiations are very high and difficult (check the 2nd video for that part)!

I guess this explains his statement, especially in what realation he made it, but it shouldn't be surprising that the offsets are high. The 50% asked in the RFP are way higher than normal and we also heared the comments from Boeing about Indian industry not beeing ready to absorb the ToT, or to fulfill the parts of the licence production we aim for.
To be honest, it is indeed something that worried me from the start as well, not that we ask for so much, because as I meantioned before, the switch from MRCA to MMRCA was mainly meant for ToT and offsets, not for more capable fighters, but can really do it, or will we have to focus on some parts?
We can also include the Russian reports about our contibution to FGFA which is estimated at about 20 to 25% and that for good reasons! Indian aero industry is still at the begining and the gap to most other countries is still very wide, but that's exactly why we need the MMRCA to improve it and my guess is, that we ask for as much as possible and then compromise to those ToT/offsets that are really important for us. Imo, AESA radar and engine techs are the most important fields for us, because they failed during LCA development and the US is still denying JV with their companies and blocking some projects with Israeli companies as well. The best alternative are Europeans here and that's one reason why Rafale and EF was shortlisted, because they are the only fighters with an offer of full ToT of the AESA radar + source codes and offered reasonable engine ToT during the LCA MK2 engine competition, or the Kaveri - Snecma co-development. But all this has it's cost of course and these competitions are the perfect base for us to negotiate!
I am sure that the EF consortium will have much difficulties as well, maybe even more by the fact that they would have to negotiate with all 4 partners and their governments first, but in general and with the long experience India has with Europe and their industry, I think they are the best partners in such an important case and preferable to the US for sure.
 
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MRCA tender: US firm Raytheon locks onto India | idrw.org

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Vying for a pie in India’s planned procurement of 126 MMRCA fighters, US defence major Raytheon today said it was eager to supply weapons systems for being integrated onto the jets to be selected from among two shortlisted European companies.

Harry Schulte, Raytheon vice-president of Air Warfare Systems said the company has a suite of air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons systems that could be integrated on Rafale or Eurofighter, the two shortlisted plane makers by India, subject to US government approval.

“Raytheon is prepared to meet India’s national security needs and support the protection of India’s sovereign interests with our air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons,” he said at the Paris Air Show here.

India has shortlisted two European contenders, French Dassault Rafale and European Eurofighter for procuring 126 Medium-Multirole Combat Aircraft (M-MRCA) deal for the Indian Air Force (IAF) in April.

He said Raytheon’s Paveway systems with proven track record could be integrated into the 126 MMRCA. Raytheon’s Paveway is a kit that transforms “dumb” bombs into precision-guided munitions; Paveway is currently in the inventory of the Indian Air Force and 41 other countries.

The Paveway family of weapons are platform independent and integrated on more than 27 aircraft.

Noting that India was a priority country for Raytheon, he also announced the firm’s desire to integrate the combat-proven Paveway systems on India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

“Raytheon has been a trusted partner to India for more than three decades, and we hope to deepen this relationship by providing the Indian Air Force the tools it needs to defend India’s sovereign interests,” said Harry Schulte, Raytheon vice-president of Air Warfare Systems.

“India’s air warriors deserve the world’s most accurate direct-attack precision guided munition, which is why Raytheon’s Paveway is a perfect fit for the LCA.

Integrated on the Rafale and Eurofighter, Paveway has been extensively used in several ongoing contingency operations. Raytheon’s battle-tested Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile is integrated on the Eurofighter.

Raytheon officials also indicated that subject to the approval of the US and Indian governments, Raytheon is looking for partnership opportunities to produce critical components of Paveway with Indian industry.

“Raytheon has the utmost respect for the capabilities of India’s defense industry,” said Peter Wray, vice president of business development for Raytheon Missile Systems in India.

“If Raytheon were to receive the proper authorisations and find the right partner, we’d be eager to pursue co-production opportunities”.
 
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MMRCA divide indian into 2 groups
1 is in the favor of rafale other is choosing euro fighter
i think india will choose ef-2000 the reason is that
india is purchasing 100 engines for trjas from usa,c-17 from usa c-130j from usa which make usa happy
upgrading mirage-2000 with the help of france
than option is left is euro fighter
 
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MMRCA divide indian into 2 groups
1 is in the favor of rafale other is choosing euro fighter
i think india will choose ef-2000 the reason is that
india is purchasing 100 engines for trjas from usa,c-17 from usa c-130j from usa which make usa happy
upgrading mirage-2000 with the help of france
than option is left is euro fighter

India is not buying to make happy but to Buy best Air Craft. C-17 and C-130J were one of best options in the world. So, India bought. India need is quite large, that's why so many options comes. According to me, Rafale is best option. This will complete all the requirement along with phased increase of SUKHOI 30MKI with Brahmos, MIG29UPG, Tejas till 2020 . After 2017-2020 - 5th Generation Air Craft PAK FA / FGFA / AMCA will rule.
 
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Rafale spearheads Dassault's growth

French aviation firm optimistic about selling multi-dimensional fighter jet to UAE, India and Brazil


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A Rafale fighter at the 49th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport. It is understood that France has received technical and operational specifications from the UAE’s armed forces for the jet on the sidelines of the air show.


Dubai: There is a sense of optimism in the air at the offices of Dassault Aviation and Dassault Systemes in Paris, as the two bodies of the company blend to take its manufacturing, technological and scientific capabilities into a new era of commercial and defence aviation.
The manufacture of business aircraft takes up the bulk of the book for Dassault, while fighter jets like the Mirage 2000 and the recently developed Rafale ‘omnirole' fighter complete the picture. Exports account for over 60 per cent of net sales.


While Dassault has a proven pedigree in aviation and air defence systems, its pet project, the Rafale fighter jet, is currently the buzzword in countries hoping to upgrade their air fleets and also in live ‘operation theatres' such as Libya and Afghanistan, where it is being used in combat situations by the French Air Force.

Cautiously optimistic

Now, Dassault is cautiously optimistic of completing an export win with the possible sale of the fighter to the UAE, India and even Brazil. Currently the French air force is the Rafale's sole client and the whiff of a contract has never been so close.
"I would not say that the Rafale has suddenly come into the news," said Eric Trappier, executive vice-president, International, Dassault Aviation.
"We have established ourselves as a result of long, hard work in Europe, the UAE and India. The UAE and India have been longstanding clients of Dassault — with the purchase of Mirage 2000s — and this means that they have been satisfied with what we have had to offer before," he said.

Different approaches

"Different approaches are reserved for prospective clients. The Indian government ensured that the Indian Air Force (IAF) had invited six tenders from manufacturers," Trappier said.

"This was shortlisted down to two after Indian pilots worked technically and operationally on our planes," he said.
"This was phase one of the proposal: complete evaluation of the six manufacturers in their conditions with pilots exercising and even firing weapons and resorting to different types of flights in the desert and altitude. In the end they gave us their feedback and the two short listed manufacturers are the Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon."


Peculiarity

The peculiarity of this deal is that it is the first time that the Eurofighter and the Rafale have faced off against each other in a final countdown, even though they have competed in tenders. A triumph for either jet could well be a win-win for the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) which owns a 46 per cent share holding in the Eurofighter consortium, as well as 46.3 per cent in Dassault.
An agreement for 126 aircraft with New Delhi could be potentially worth $10 billion-$12 billion (Dh36.7 billion-Dh44 billion).
"With the UAE, however, our approach is vastly different," Trappier said.
"We have a direct approach. This is based on the close relationship between the two countries. We made a few flights with the Rafale for evaluation. The UAE government is used to working with the French, which is why we have proposed the sale of roughly 60 Rafale jets."

Book value

The book value of this contract is believed to be in excess of $8 billion. It is now understood that negotiations have gone a step forward after France received technical and operational specifications from the UAE's armed forces along the sidelines of the ongoing Le Bourget Air Show in Paris. A date for signing a deal is to be set following financial negotiations.

Sources at Dassault are hoping that this will be closed in the UAE at the Dubai Air Show.

A further $7 billion deal with Brazil could complete the big picture for Dassault but for a few irritants in the negotiations. Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came close to signing on the dotted line, after competitors like the Boeing F-18, Grippen Saab and the Typhoon had bowed out, but held back, leaving the decision to current President Dilma Roussef who took office last January 1.
"Each country has its own set of requirements and they focus on their individual capabilities," Trappier said, explaining the method behind individual negotiations.

Expounding on the logic behind making a multi-dimensional fighter like the Rafale, Trappier said: "The idea behind its creation is dominated by cost and financial restrictions. The general headquarters in France proposed building one single aircraft with all types of mission capabilities and one which could serve the French navy as well as the airforce."

Believing that this type of fighter aircraft could go on to become the norm for the future Trappier explained: "The military role and the omnirole capability are flexible because it is capable of adapting the strengths of the aircraft to the mission at hand. Missions can be more and more ‘wide', as in Afghanistan and Libya, or complete war — so it is easy when one has an aircraft capable of many purposes."

Lost contracts

Despite the Rafale's inherent strengths there were contracts that were lost, as in South Korea, Singapore and Morocco which opted for the Boeing F-15 and Lockheed Martin's F-16.

"If we are referring to South Korea and Singapore, we must remind ourselves that this is where the Americans are strong in terms of their political approach. American fighters had been sold before and so these countries went in for a process of continuity," he said. "Therefore, we don't consider it to be a loss as the process of negotiation was a foregone conclusion. Also, we must not forget that the Rafale was operational in the French Air Force only in 2006 so it is quite new."

Trappier believes the sky is the limit for the evolution of the Rafale.

No restrictions

"There are no restrictions. Some countries have even upgraded the F-5 aircraft which is an old plane. The Rafale can continue to be adapted for the next 30 years and will remain in the French forces for the next 40 years," he said.
"The systems in the plane were built up in order to receive these types of adaptations. There is no limit except a physical limit: like a limit on sensors on board. But the main sensors are there like the radar, the electronics, the countermeasures, the weapons," he added.
"In an aircraft which has an empty weight of 10 tonnes we have built a very well-conceptualised plane which may address everything, including the ration between fuel and capability to carry weapons and other such matters."
Looking at the future Trappier was confident in his view that more and more governments would be looking to trim their defence budgets.

On track

In this respect France is already on track.


"Prospects are open, but we developed the Rafale because we were pushed by our airforce and navy to do it. Whether the United States and other countries will do it is anybody's guess — they prefer dedicated fighters and their budgets are still huge. Maybe they will change."
With regard to the impending export of the Rafale, Trappier said: "There needs to be a level playing field where considerations are limited to the efficacy of the product. Serious testing must be the key and not just influence. The merchandise must be good after strenuous evaluation, but ultimately the selling of a fighter plane will always be the result of a political decision."

gulfnews : Rafale spearheads Dassault's growth
 
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Paris 2011: Thales Brings Consistency to Rafale Radar: AINonline

Paris 2011: Thales Brings Consistency to Rafale Radar

Thales is “five years ahead of anybody in Europe or the U.S.” in active arrays for airborne radars, according to Jean-Nöel Stock, Thales vice-president UAVs and intelligence, and a former program director for Dassault Rafale airborne systems.

Speaking earlier this month at Thales Airborne Systems’ radar and mission systems facility in Pessac, Bordeaux, where he is also site director, Stock said one of the strengths of the Rafale program is that most of the electronics come from a single company. “The consistency we bring to the electronics means the pilot has a system that is fully integrated,” he said.

Thales’s contribution to the Rafale amounts to more than a quarter of the airplane’s dollar value, Stock said. It includes the RBE2 radar, frontal sector optronics, missile seekers (with MBDA), Damocles targeting pod and Spectra electronic warfare system. And all the data from the sensors is fuzed in a modular, data-processing unit before being displayed to the pilot or datalinked to friendly units.

Two weeks ago an RBE2 was in the final integration room at Pessac, awaiting delivery to France’s armaments agency, the DGA, for installation in the next Rafale to be produced by Dassault Aviation. It retained the passive array that will continue to be delivered through 2012. But sharing the room was an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar already undergoing integration ahead of installation on one of the 60 tranche 4 Rafales ordered by the DGA in 2009 for delivery from 2013.

The advantage of electronic scanning is that the radar beam is directed electronically, rather than by mechanically swiveling the antenna back and forth to scan the sky. That means the beam can be switched in microseconds from one area of the sky to another, or used for ground mapping and air surveillance at the same time by flipping between the two modes.

The current RBE2’s passive antenna uses electronic lenses consisting of arrays of diodes to direct the beam horizontally and vertically. The active array eliminates the grids; instead, the front end of the antenna is populated by hundreds of transmit/receive modules, each combining a high-power transmit amplifier, low-noise, receive amplifier and beam control.

Eliminating the grids also eliminates the power lost by the signal going back and forth, improving the radar’s detection capability. “With the active array, Rafale will have a radar with twice the performance of today’s radar,” said Stock.

Such a high level of integration is made possible by the gallium-arsenide, integrated-circuit technology on which Stock bases his claim of a five-year lead in active array radar. “It was not feasible in the ’80s or ’90s and is still not feasible for many European countries,” he said. “It is not possible to integrate at this density in a combat aircraft radar without gallium arsenide. It would produce more heat and we couldn’t accommodate it.” As it is, Thales had to develop a new liquid-cooling system for the modules.

The gallium-arsenide chips, which carry out digital processing and frequency management at the same time, are produced by United Monolithic Semiconductor, a Thales/EADS joint venture based at Orsay, south of Paris, then integrated into subassemblies by Thales Micro Electronics in Brittany before being integrated into the antenna itself at Pessac. “When Rafale is exported we will find local partners for components,” Stock said. “But we will ensure we have full control of the supply chain, right down to the printed circuit boards.”

Replacing a passive with an active array is “totally plug and play” and can be achieved in two hours, he added. Future enhancements to the radar, such as a finer aperture for ground mapping in synthetic aperture radar mode and simultaneous mode operation will be achieved through new software with no change to the hardware.

In fact, Thales said, the large number of T/R modules means some of them can fail without noticeably affecting the system’s overall reliability and performance. Their reliability is such that the active front end should not require maintenance at intervals of less than 10 years.

The same gallium-arsenide technology that is transforming the RBE2 is likely to find other applications, such as a future version of the Ocean Master 4000 maritime-surveillance radar that would retain mechanical rotation but use electronic-beam tilting. Current risk assessments are also looking at applications on the Franco-British Telemos medium altitude long endurance UAV.
 
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More news from the Air Show:


Paris 2011: Thales Brings Consistency to Rafale Radar

Thales is “five years ahead of anybody in Europe or the U.S.” in active arrays for airborne radars, according to Jean-Nöel Stock, Thales vice-president UAVs and intelligence, and a former program director for Dassault Rafale airborne systems.Speaking earlier this month at Thales Airborne Systems’ radar and mission systems facility in Pessac, Bordeaux, where he is also site director, Stock said one of the strengths of the Rafale program is that most of the electronics come from a single company. “The consistency we bring to the electronics means the pilot has a system that is fully integrated,” he said.

Thales’s contribution to the Rafale amounts to more than a quarter of the airplane’s dollar value, Stock said. It includes the RBE2 radar, frontal sector optronics, missile seekers (with MBDA), Damocles targeting pod and Spectra electronic warfare system. And all the data from the sensors is fuzed in a modular, data-processing unit before being displayed to the pilot or datalinked to friendly units...

Paris 2011: Thales Brings Consistency to Rafale Radar: AINonline


Rafale and Supercruise:

- The Snecma M88 engine in the Rafale develops 11,250 lb of dry thrust and 16,900 lb with afterburner. They allow it to supercruise with four missiles and a 1,250 liter belly drop tank. The naval version (Rafale M) can supercruise up to Mach 1.4

http://siae.netdirect.fr/2011/sites/actu/docs/3-vol/fiches2011/Rafale_G-B.pdf


And OT, but an interesting side note:

In 2009, RUAG started building a Dornier 228 New Generation in Germany with the fuselage, wings and tail unit manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Kanpur (India) and transported to Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, where RUAG Aviation carries out aircraft final assembly, customized equipment installation, product conformity inspection and aircraft delivery.
The main changes from the previous Dornier 228-212 model are a new 5-blade propeller made of composite material, more powerful engines, and an advanced glass cockpit featuring electronic instrument displays.
The Dornier 228 NG was certified by EASA on 18 August 2010. First delivery, to a Japanese customer, took place in September 2010.

http://siae.netdirect.fr/2011/sites/actu/docs/3-vol/fiches2011/Do_228-212_NG_G-B.pdf
 
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Libya Rafale made when a 35-hour (google translated):

During the first three months of operation Harmattan in Libya, the Rafales (Air and Marine) made over 700 sorties and a total of 3800 hours of flight - either out of an average of 5:30.

Rafales up to 28 were engaged at the same time ...compared to a figure ten Typhoon (Eurofighter) that the RAF was able to deploy a few weeks.

The planes, which availability is excellent (1), are under stress. One of them flew 140 hours in a month ... or 35 hours per week! Several have exceeded 130 hours, while the average is around 100 hours.

The Rafales have taken ten Scalp cruise missiles, bombs AASM 182 and 116 GBU, not counting the 300 out of recognition.

(1) There are only three mechanics per aircraft.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Jean-Dominique Merchet

Libye : quand un Rafale fait les 35 heures
 
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RAF chief warns Libya stretching resources

Air Chief Marshal Sir Simon Bryant told lawmakers that operations in Afghanistan and Libya are placing a huge demand on equipment and personnel at a time when morale is "fragile" due to sweeping defence cuts.

The head of British air force combat operations has warned that future operations will be at risk if U.K. engagement in Libya lasts through the summer.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Simon Bryant told lawmakers that operations in Afghanistan and Libya are placing a huge demand on equipment and personnel at a time when morale is “fragile” due to sweeping defence cuts.

His comments in a briefing paper, leaked to Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper and published on Tuesday, were given to lawmakers last month, before Britain’s Navy chief Mark Stanhope said the government will face tough choices if the intervention in Libya’s civil war continues beyond six months.

Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted Britain can sustain its part in NATO operations in Libya as long as necessary.
 
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