Skip to main content

Rafale deadlock gives thrust to Russian 5th-gen jet project



Faced with continuing deadlock in the mega deal to acquire 126 French Rafale fighters, India is now pressing the throttle to seal the even bigger project with Russia for the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA).

India has told Russia it wants deliveries of the FGFA to begin in 36 months after the main contract is inkedThe final FGFA design contract has been hanging fire since India and Russia completed their initial work under the $295 million preliminary design contract signed in December 2010. India will overall spend around $25 billion on the FGFA project if it goes ahead with its plan to induct 127 such fighters, as earlier reported by TOI.

All this has gained urgency since India feels French aviation major Dassault is being needlessly intransigent over the pricing mechanism in the final negotiations for the over $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project. Under it, the first 18 Rafale fighters were to be delivered off-the-shelf, with the remaining 108 being produced in India.

“But Dassault’s costing for the 108 Rafales to be built by HAL has undergone a major hike. It amounts to changing the price line that led to Rafale’s selection over Eurofighter Typhoon as the L-1 (lowest bidder) in the MMRCA competition,” said the source.

“The MoD simply cannot sign the contract if the L-1 price is altered. Dassault should relent and stick to its commercial bid submitted in response to the original RFP (request for proposal),” he added.

Both sides are furiously working to break the deadlock since India wants to take a final call on the MMRCA project before Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits France in early-April, as earlier reported by TOI., instead of the 94 months envisaged earlier, top defence sources said.

With this “accelerated delivery timeframe” becoming the main objective, India is ready to forego the earlier plan for a 50:50 design and work-share agreement with Russia on its under-development FGFA called PAK-FA or Sukhoi T-50.

India is also no longer insisting that all the single-seat stealth fighters required by IAF be built in India by defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics at its Ozar facility. “We have agreed to a lesser work-share for a realistic contract, with the initial lot of the FGFA being imported and the rest being made here under technology transfer,” said a source.

“Like for the Russian Sukhoi-30MKI fighters (majority of the 272 Sukhois contracted for $12 billion are being made by HAL), the curve in technology absorption will also be steep in the FGFA project,” he added.

Faced with a sharp decline in the number of fighter squadrons in IAF, India wants to fast-track the FGFA project under which its “perspective multi-role fighter” will be based on PAK-FA but tweaked to its requirements.


                                                                    SOURCE : http://idrw.org/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LCA vs grippen vs JF-17 vs F-CK-1

  India’s much awaited supersonic fighter jet, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas was inducted into the IAF yesterday. LCA Tejas is India’s first indigenously built light combat aircraft and its induction has highlighted India’s defence aviation and self sufficiency capabilities to the world. We have to wait and watch if LCA TEJAS matches other multirole fighters like Gripen, JF-17  and F-CK-1. So lets go ahead and compare the features of LCA TEJAS with the rest. Lets start with the LCA TEJAS which is a single-seat, single-engine, lightweight, high-agility supersonic fighter aircraft. The LCA TEJAS can speed upto Mach 1.4 and is capable of carrying assorted weapon load along with dropping tanks up to four tons. It has some of the latest avionics and digital flight control systems. The Tejas, presently is powered by American General Electric Engine. The HAL TEJAS is designed with a single vertical fin  with no tailplanes or foreplanes and has a delta wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Eurofighter Typhoon vs Dassault Rafale

Eurofighter Typhoon is one of the worlds most advanced new generation multi-role/swing-role combat aircraft available on the market. With 707 aircraft ordered by six nations (Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), and in service with all nations, the aircraft is Europe’s largest military collaborative program. Eurofighter Typhoon is the only fighter to offer wide-ranging operational capabilities whilst at the same time delivering unparalleled fleet effectiveness. When the RAFALE program was launched, the Armée de l’Air and the Marine Nationale (the French Air Force and the French Navy) published a joint requirement for a balanced multirole aircraft that would be able to replace seven types of combat aircraft then in use. Versatile and best in all categories of missions, the RAFALE is a true “force multiplier” This is what Dassault Aviation says about their pride and joy and it’s really interesting since they put too much emphasis on...
Post a Comment
Read more
SPECTRA (Système de Protection et d’Évitement des Conduites de Tir du Rafale) is a integrated defensive aids suite for Dassault Rafale developed by Thales Group. Modern air warfare pose a different challenge on aircraft self-defense capabilities. SPECTRA provides complete automated system directly integrated into the Rafale. SPECTRA ensures efficient electromagnetic detection, laser warning, IR detection for missile warning, jamming and chaff/flare dispensing, even in the most demanding multi-threats environment. SPECTRA is divided into different modules and sensors strategically positioned throughout the airframe to provide all-round coverage. The latest advances in micro-electronic technology have led to a new system which is much lighter, more compact and less demanding than its ancestors in terms of electrical and cooling powers. All elements of the Thales SPECTRA system are built into the airframe, have high levels of automation and system integration. SPECTRA include...
Post a Comment
Read more