Rafale wins MMRCA : Indian Airforce Rafale Photo

Rafale in Indian Airforce colors.

Rafale in Indian colors. Let me know if any more changes are needed to make it more Indian .
French Dassault fighter aircraft Rafale has been selected to be the Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Dassault beat the four-nation consortium’s Eurofighter on price, with the fighter being identified as L1, or the lowest technically qualified bid.

StratPost understands that Dassault has been issued a letter from the Ministry of Defense, communicating their selection.

Three representatives of the Eurofighter consortium were also summoned to the Ministry of Defense at South Block on Tuesday afternoon, when they were informed of their loss in the competition.

The bid was originally estimated to be worth USD 10.4 billion, as per the budget estimate approved in 2007, but it is likely to have faced a substantial escalation in cost, keeping in mind inflation and the fall in the value of the Indian Rupee.

French jet Rafale bags $20bn IAF fighter order

French jet Rafale bags $20bn IAF fighter order; India 'briefs' losing European countries

The Rafale jets will replace India's ageing fleet of Russian MiGs, with the French company entering exclusive talks with the Indians to finalise the deal by March

 

NEW DELHI: First, the Americans, Russians and Swedes were ejected out of the hotly-contested race. And now, the Europeans too have been shot down in the dogfight, leaving only the French flying high in the Indian skies.
After an exhaustive technical and commercial evaluation spread over five long years, India on Tuesday selected French jet Rafale over the Eurofighter Typhoon for the gigantic almost $20 billion MMRCA ( medium multi-role combat aircraft) programme to supply 126 fighters to IAF - the largest such "open-tender" military aviation deal in the world.

French Dassault Rafale wallpapers

Rafale front section close up.

Rafale B afterburner

Dassault Rafale in a dive.

Rafale C of French Airforce.

Rafale going Topgun style : this is tom cruise requesting a flyby:

Rafale : Hot favourite for MMRCA

It seems that Indian airforce is more content with Rafale than the Eurofighter, As reported by Deccan Chronicles :

 
Just why has the Indian Air Force (IAF) short-listed the French Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon ahead of four other contenders, including the US F-16 and F/A-18 fighters, for the Rs 42, 000 crore medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contract?
The down selection at the end of a prolonged evaluation of the six fighter jets was evidently based on the fact that the Rafale and the Typhoon were the most modern airframes and better equipped compared to F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-16 IN of the US, MiG-35 of Russia, and JAS-39 Gripen of Sweden.

The Rafale and the Typhoon met most of the 630 technical attributes mentioned in the request for proposal (RFP) by the ministry of defence, while the others lacked either in performance or had limitations in terms of future upgrades.
“Rafale figures a notch higher than Typhoon in terms of performance and involves easier adaptability as it is logistically and operationally similar to Mirage-2000, used extensively by our boys during the Kargil conflict in 1999. The French government has also cleared the technology transfer, including the AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar,” sources in the IAF told Deccan Chronicle.
The other discreet offering by Dassault Aviation too made sense: save on the $1.5 billion project to upgrade 52 Mirage-2000 jets by acquiring the Rafale.
Interestingly, all six fighters were in the race till April 17, the deadline for submission of modified offset proposals. The representatives of these firms were informed of the Union government’s decision to relax the offset policy mentioned in the request for proposal (RFP).
The original rider that half the value of the $ 10.5 billion contract be passed on to domestic firms was modified, fixing it at 30 per cent of the deal. “We were all expecting a word on extension of commercial proposals on the last day, April 28, but got to know that only Dassault Aviation and Eurofighter have been invited for discussions,” said a representative of Saab AB.
Those who lost out have made it known that they would raise issues concerning the price and other attributes of Rafale and Typhoon. The two aircraft are said to be the highest priced among those in the contest when looked at from a unit price point of view. Second, the Eurofighter’s AESA radar is still under development. Only the two US fighters have operational AESA radars on them.
If India finally picks the Rafale, it would be only the second air force after the French Air Force to induct these fighters into its fleet.
India has asked Dassault SA and Eurofighter GmbH to hold their price bids until the end of the year. The deal is expected to be signed by March 2012.
The Final Two
Eurofighter Typhoon – Germany/Britain/Italy/Spain
Dassault Rafale -- France
Out of the contest
Lockheed Martin’s F-16IN – USA
Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet – USA
SAAB’s Gripen JAS-39 – Sweden
Mikoyan-Gureywich’s MiG-35 – Russia

Pakistan's MMRCA : Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon Or Fc-20

Tweet by Alan Warne :

Once india's MMRCA winner is announced will the losers offer Pakistan with alternatives to the J-10/FC-20? You bet!

As per Indian media reports Dassault Rafale has slight advantage in price, Air to Ground arsenal and AESA radar. If we add this to the fact that Indian air force is already using Dassault Mirage-2000 and seems to be more then happy, Rafale should win Indian MMRCA competition provided Dassault doesn't do its typical marketing job which resulted in introduction of Eurofighter Typhoon in UAE competition which was thought as a done deal for Dassault  .

Jf-!7 Block 2 Upgrade with French MICA

In the long wish list of JF17 upgrades, there are many things i want to see. One of them is adding the number of Pylons for Jf17 Thunder to carry additional missiles .
In its present standard CAP configuration, JFT will carry 2x PL-9 AAM, 2x SD-10 BVRAAM, and 3x drop tanks and this seems a little less compared to modern generation aircraft . Although Dual Launcher for SD-10 will address this problem. I think going for an additional Pylon like the French have gone for on Dassault Rafale and earlier on Mirage 2000, is the most logical next step to add more punch to JFT. As having this additional pylon enhances Multirole capabilities of JF17. Now JFT can carry 4x AAM, 3x Drop tanks, 2x AGMs.

Below is the rendition :

and some words about MICA (missile) :

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The MBDA MICA (Missile d’interception et de combat aérien, “Interception and Aerial Combat Missile”) is an anti-air multi-target, all weather, fire-and-forget short and medium-range missile system. It is intended for use both by air platforms as individual missiles as well as ground units and ships, which can be equipped with the rapid fire MICA Vertical Launch System. It is fitted with a thrust vector control (TVC) system.

It was developed from 1982 onward by Matra. The first trials occurred in 1991, and the missile was commissioned in 1996 to equip the Rafale and Mirage 2000. It is a replacement for both Super 530 (interception) and Magic II (dogfight). Two can be fired in a two-second interval.
Contents


There are two MICA variants; MICA RF has an active radar homing seeker and MICA IR has an imaging infra-red homing seeker. Both seekers are designed to filter out counter-measures such as chaff and decoy flares. A thrust vector control unit fitted to the rocket motor increases the missile's agility. It is capable of lock-on after launch (LOAL) which means it is capable of engaging targets outside its seeker's acquisition range.

MICA can also be employed as a short-range surface-to-air missile as the VL MICA SHORAD; in this form it is fired from a truck-mounted box launcher. On October 23, 2008, 15:30, at CELM, Biscarosse (Landes), a VL MICA missile successfully performed the last of its 14 test firings meaning it is now ready for mass production. The RPV was flying at low level, on the sea, 12 km away; despite this distance (roughly twice the range of Sea Wolf), MICA (with an active radar seeker) locked on the target and shot it down. Corvettes too small to have the costly Aster missile systems will be the best customer for this weapon, that basically is an Aster without its booster and PIF-PAF vectorial control(as example, the diameter and radar are roughly the same in both Mica and Aster).[2]

The Armée de l'Air received its first MICA batch in the 1990s with its 37 Mirage 2000-5. The French Air Force and Navy have ordered a total of 1110 MICAs, divided equally between RF and IR versions; 1000 missiles had been delivered by November 2010. MICA is also offered for export, the first sale was made to Taiwan in 1992 when the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) ordered some 960 missiles in both RF and IR versions to arm its new Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft.[3]

Brazil FX-2 competition JF17 Thunder

As reported by Brazil to acquire 36 fighter aircraft in FX-2 DEAL : Brazil is soon expected to make an announcement about its initial 36-aircraft FX-2 fighter deal. The top contenders for the FX-2 deal are Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale and Saab Gripen NG.

I just wish that JF17 Thunder was also a part of the competetion.

Although many would argue that FAB is looking for a deal which will take Brazil's aviation industry to the next advanced level, and though FC-1/JF17 Tunder can pretty much hold its ground against 4th gen aircraft, the benefits that Brazilian aviation industry will gain from the JF17 project are marginal, considering it is home to the aviation industry giant Embraer, world's fourth largest plane maker. Even though they have yet to embark on a Fighter jet production project of JF17's level, one cannot doubt their ability to produce if they ever wanted to.

PAF Inducts Rafale

[BBN - Defence Reporter] First batch of six aircraft of the total 75 Rafale aircraft arrived today at Mushaf Airbase, Sargodha. Pakistan had signed a deal worth 5 billion $ for these aircrafts.

Addressing the august ceremony held here in connection with formally inducting the fighter jets in the PAF fleet, Air Chief Marshal Rana Sabuktageen Sultan said this was a dream that came true today, underscoring the need for cooperation in future as well.

Sultan said the handing of new fighter jets would boost confidence in relations between the two counties. The inducting of these jets will mark beginning of new chapter in the PAF’s technology; also, they will go a long way in Pakistan’s defence from internal and external challenges.

“This is the most visible part of a strong and growing relationship between the two air forces that will benefit both short-term and long-term,” Sultan continued.

Pakistan is paying $ 5 billion for the 75 new aircraft. The French Air Force also is training PAF pilots. The first eight pilots have recently completed training with the Paris National Guard in Hilton.

Jf 17-Rafale Style and PAF EF-2000

Last of My PS Season 1. Will be back after a year or two, i guess. Keep clicking [ if u know wat i mean] . Cheers .

For all those who wanna see Euro fighter in PAF colors.



Lacking a bit of finishing touches , but here it is : Twin seat JF 17