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MRCA first post was on 11-23-2005, 10:46 AM.
Its 23rd April 2010..............After almost 5 years.....still not confident wt to buy
New Recruit
MRCA first post was on 11-23-2005, 10:46 AM.
Its 23rd April 2010..............After almost 5 years.....still not confident wt to buy
Meteor on Gripen now has 'go to war' capability
Jane's has reported that Sweden is accelerating plans to fully integrate the MBDA Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) on the Gripen. Rapid availability of the Meteor is seen as a key capability for export customers. Swedish programme sources have told Jane's that a lot of development work has already been completed with Gripen and that the missile is now functional on the Swedish fighter, with a 'go to war' capability available today.
Meteor is a European collaborative programme between the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Germany. The missile is planned to be the primary BVR air-to-air missile for all the modern European fighter aircraft; Gripen, Eurofighter and Rafale.
Saab became involved in the Meteor programme as early as 2003, when Saab Bofors Dynamics was awarded a contract to develop and produce the prototype of the missile. The same year, Saab Aerosystems was awarded a contract for the integration of Meteor on the Gripen. Saab therefore plays a key and prominent role within the Meteor programme.
Gripen is the first and so far only fighter aircraft which has air-launched the Meteor missile. The first Air Launched Demonstration firing took place in 2006.
While the UK is leading the Meteor development programme, all airborne test work to date has used Swedish assets because of a series of delays with other intended test platforms, chiefly the Eurofighter Typhoon. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has now acknowledged a previously unreported Meteor firing that took place in 2009. An MoD statement to Jane's said the test "was was conducted on 3 June 2009 from a Gripen aircraft against a Mirach subscale target at the Hebrides range. This firing successfully tested the ability of the missile to acquire and track a target at low altitude with a sea clutter background. This was the first trial using the pre-production standard of hardware".
To date six Meteor firings have been acknowledged since May 2006 - all undertaken by Saab Gripens. By the end of 2009 Meteor form-and-fit checks had been made with the Tornado and by February 2010 captive carriage tests with dummy missiles were being flown.
In March 2010 QinetiQ's primary Tornado testbed (ZE203) completed Meteor ejection release trials to prove safe separation with dummy missiles. The first launch of a live missile is expected as early as May.
Meanwhile, Sweden is pressing ahead with its Meteor integration plans and Saab looks set to be the first aircraft manufacturer with a functional, available Meteor capability. Swedish programme officials have told Jane's that the June 2009 guided firing proved a workable integration of the missile with the Gripen is now "in place and more or less operational".
To deliver a complete integration requires further envelope clearance on Gripen's pylon Nos 2 and 3, plus further refinement to radar modes, mission software and cockpit displays. Ideally, this work would be aligned with the Gripen's regular software update schedule and would appear as part of the coming E20 edition. The current E19 edition is fully compatible with the Meteor.
Meteor is claimed to have between three and six times the kinematic performance of any current missile of its type. The firing was carried out from a Saab Gripen aircraft against a MQM-107B ‘Streaker’ high-subsonic subscale aerial target. The missile test firing concludes a series of development firings to prove the overall performance of the missile and its various subsystems in terms of guidance, propulsion, data link and fuse.
The key to Meteor’s outstanding performance is the rocket motor. For the first time a solid fuel ramjet is being used to propel a missile. Already proven in earlier test firings, the unique solid fuel throttleable ducted rocket gives Meteor the ability to maintain high speed all the way to the target aircraft, making evasion virtually pointless.
Approximately five further firings are planned in Sweden to complete the Gripen integration. Programme officials believe that this work could be underlining what has been achieved already. The report states that Swedish programme sources state that all basic requirements to have Meteor functional on Gripen have been met, including launchers, data linking, bus traffic, safe separation.
GRIPEN INDIA: Meteor on Gripen now has 'go to war' capability
F16 Jets: To Buy or Not to Buy | OPEN Magazine
US SETTING THE PITCH FOR MMRCA BY OFFERING JETS VIA FMS TO INDIA DIRECTLY.
At $12 billion, this is the biggest defence deal in the world. Ranged against each other are six of the worlds best fighter aircraftthe Russian MiG-35, American F-16 and F-18, Swedens Gripen, French Rafale and the European consortium EADSs Eurofighter Typhoonas the Indian Air Force (IAF) closes in on choosing 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft through a global tender. But the US, keen on altering the rules of the game, is pressuring India to forgo the tendering process and instead go in for a single-vendor deal under what it terms a foreign military sale (FMS), leaving India to choose only between the F-16 and F-18.
It was in 2008, when bids were first submitted, that the US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had first written to Indias Ministry of Defence, suggesting such a course. Now Vice Admiral Jeffrey A Wieringa, director of the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, has again written to the Ministry. Significantly, this is the first time that the US has responded to a global tender for an Indian defence deal. And its preference for the FMS route is more than obvious, unlike the Soviets earlier or Russians now, who, despite being Indias largest suppliers through its history, have never insisted on such strings attached.
An FMS would involve a government-to-government agreement on a contract without an open tender, which would ease the transfer of critical technologies, thus hastening the process. The flip side is that it is bound to raise expenses, which would obviate the entire rationale of a global tender which allows for open trials to meet the IAFs requirements. Apart from restricting choices, such a deal would also let the US dictate a set of other terms, under a maintenance and usage clause, in contrast with the current scenario in which any supplier selected will have to meet terms of the tender as specified by India.
In his letter to the Ministry last month, Wieringa is said to have pitched hard for the 126-fighter dealtrials for which are in full swing, though delayed by a month. Four of the six aircraft in contention have completed their three-phase trials, while two are still undergoing them (likely to be done by the end of next month).
The Ministry has received letters from government representatives on behalf of other aircraft in the fray as well, but South Block is understood to have turned down these requests, preferring to adhere strictly to the transparency clause of the Defence Procurement Procedure.
Remember how the Comptroller and Auditor General (Cag) had raised the issue of US restrictions on offensive deployment of the landing platform dock ship USS Trenton, bought earlier by the Indian Navy? The Cag questioned Indias acquiescence to a US directive on inventory inspection of all articles transferred under the end user monitoring clause, and the Left had slammed the Government for the clauses figuring in the Trenton deal. Now the clause assumes heightened importance, given all the big ticket deals in the pipeline right now.
Americas end user monitoring mechanisms, which call for the regular physical inspection of military supplies by the US government, have been a sticking point in several Indo-US defence deals in the past as well. In June last year, it took many rounds of hard negotiation to sort out the monitoring of Boeing Business Jets procured by India for the use of the President and PM. The clause finally agreed upon by the National Security Advisor enables the US to inspect these VVIP aircraft once a year.
But this one-time agreement was not enough to sort out issues with monitoring in general. Vice Admiral Wieringa had played an important role last year when the mechanism had hit a roadblock; once a draft of the clause sent by Washington was rejected by the Ministry for infringing Indian sovereignty, he proposed that sample versions of text signed by the US with other countries be made available to South Block, for reference. Mutually agreed changes were made before the clause was finally signed by both countries last year during US Secretary of State Hillary Clintons visit to India.
On an average, Indias defence deals with Russia are worth an estimated $1.5 billion annually, and with Israel, about $1 billion. With the US, India has done defence business worth only $4 billion over the past eight years. But that figure could spike sharply upwards.
Guys , I am getting worried abt US twisting , i mean this FMS route will lurch MoD to seriously consider it + it would be easy for US to offer sophisticated tech . I mean this will ensure US as winner.
Secondly as shortlist date is coming , i am sure US will lure India more by offering Source codes and full Radar info and we will be trapped.
I have seen enough type of last minute sweetening done in BRAZIL , 50% discount + full TOT etc .
Just hope that shortlist is Fair and unbiased and without US influence .
Gripen my bet ,
Guys , I am getting worried abt US twisting , i mean this FMS route will lurch MoD to seriously consider it + it would be easy for US to offer sophisticated tech . I mean this will ensure US as winner.
Secondly as shortlist date is coming , i am sure US will lure India more by offering Source codes and full Radar info and we will be trapped.
I have seen enough type of last minute sweetening done in BRAZIL , 50% discount + full TOT etc .
Just hope that shortlist is Fair and unbiased and without US influence .
Gripen my bet ,
How do you say that we will be trapped...?
Full TOT + source codes + full radar info= Very good deal...
I ll be happy with it...
Or is there any problem regarding this? Seniors, plz help me...