Pakistan seeks missiles, radar from France: Report

[JK!]

Would the ROSE II upgraded Mirage be able to accommodate the integration of the Meteor BVRAMM considering that they are equipped with French radars?

IMO, there are quite a few ROSE Mirages which are here to stay for a long time.

I have seen pictures of Mirage V in Pakistani service equiped with the Exocet Anti ship Missile along its centreline which given the scale of the Meteor would be the best place to accomodate the missile.

As mentioned already the aquisition of Meteor is another matter.

 

[fatman17]

based on the current airspace environment, wouldnt the AIM-120C suffice for PAF needs.? just like the sidewinder AAM, PAF would hope to continue purchasing newer versions of the AIM-120C. "D" is already under evaluation.

 

[IceCold]

US is also looking at meteor as their next BVRAAM. And NATO cant refuse meteor to US since NATO uses a lot of US weaponry. So once USA gets meteor, they'll be free to sell it.

Now if USA doesnt get meteor for some reason, they'll develop their own version of meteor.

The success of rafale and EF depends on

1) ToT: If they can offer ToT that the americans dont, they'll have an edge.
2) Tech: EF and Rafale are very advanced fighters, probably the best in the world after 5th gen fighters. Also they can get a lot of upgrades in the future that can make them on par with 5th gen fighters.
3) Cost: If they can probve that their higher cost = better performance than their rivals, they might get orders
4) Weaponry: Rafale and EF are compatible with all western weaponry. This means that by buying these, you can get any weapons you'll get by buying US fighters. This is where Rafale and EF score above Russian fighters.

So far rafale and EF have failed to get major orders 9aside from Saudi Arabia for EF) coz they have failed to define exactly what they offer.

US is looking into the meteor but it isnt the obivious choice, but for EF and Rafale it is.

TOT is a matter concerned to bigger nations like china and india, where as smaller nations dont actually want to go for tot reason they dont have the infrastructure to support it even if the TOT is allowed.

Cost is an issue, and since the need of smaller nations as yet are quite fulfilled with the F-16s and F-18, so they dont wana go for another expensive plane. Thailand recently opted for the gripens as compared to both EF and Rafale, as its cheap, more easy to operate from the airstrips (landing & takeoff).

Going for a western plane makes the equipment more easy to access but the russian equipment isnt less either and besides russians are more cooperative interms of their technology as compared to the west.

 

[IceCold]

based on the current airspace environment, wouldnt the AIM-120C suffice for PAF needs.? just like the sidewinder AAM, PAF would hope to continue purchasing newer versions of the AIM-120C. "D" is already under evaluation.

Meteor is the most advance BVRAAM as compared to any AimRAAM and surely PAF wants to go for the advance missle available in the market. Besides as we are always prone to US sactions, learning from the past, PAF wants to divertsify its purchases. We will have the AMRAAM, SD-10 and if possible the meteor.
As for the sidewinders, i was reading somewhere that pakistan did not want these missles but they were included in the package for somereason.

 

[fatman17]

icecold - u maybe right on the BVRAAM issue. on the sidewinder, PAF wanted the AIM-9X but was politely refused for the time-being therefore they opted for the AIM-9M1/2 (?) which is one version older than the 9X. they will get the 9X soon enough.

 

[su-47]

US is looking into the meteor but it isnt the obivious choice, but for EF and Rafale it is.

TOT is a matter concerned to bigger nations like china and india, where as smaller nations dont actually want to go for tot reason they dont have the infrastructure to support it even if the TOT is allowed.

Cost is an issue, and since the need of smaller nations as yet are quite fulfilled with the F-16s and F-18, so they dont wana go for another expensive plane. Thailand recently opted for the gripens as compared to both EF and Rafale, as its cheap, more easy to operate from the airstrips (landing & takeoff).

Expensive aircraft does sell to smaller nations. Eurofighter has orders form Austria, remember?

Anyway, its the big orders that really count. And countries that place big orders want ToT.

Going for a western plane makes the equipment more easy to access but the russian equipment isnt less either and besides russians are more cooperative interms of their technology as compared to the west.

Most Russian air-to-ground wepaons dont compare to western counterparts. There's no credible russian counterpart to the JDAM, for instance.

Also, Russian planes have faults that are not evident on paper, but show up during wartime, as india learned the hard way. Here are a few faults:

1) Lower sortie rate
2) Lower combat readiness
3) More maintenance problems
4) Higher accident rate
5) Spares shoratge (a real nightmare)

Only by integrating western tech into Russian planes can these russian planes be made top range. And sometimes the west refuses to integrate their hardware onto russian planes. so its better to go for western planes.