Another ditch by Gripan to have a short a MMRCA.
Dont know how mach it will succeds
.
.
Livefist: New Gripen Ad For MMRCA Says A Lot
.
This very interesting advert for the Gripen NG
appears in the current edition of India's biggest
news magazine, India Today. It says a lot of
things. One, it appears three months after the
Gripen was officially eliminated from the Indian
MMRCA competition. Two, and more
interestingly, Saab's creative concept has shifted
away from simply highlighting the Gripen's
virtues (also of "autonomy" and "independence"),
and now takes a direct shot at the two finalists in
the competition -- the Eurofighter Typhoon and
Dassault Rafale -- on cost and stated capability. In
short, Saab believes it still has a chance, and this
fight isn't finished.
In one part, the advert says, "Performance
counts when aircraft are in the air, defending the
skies. Unfortunately, too many fighter aircraft are
either sitting on the ground because they are too
expensive to fly or simply do not have the
capabilities that they were touted to have." Ouch.
Also, "[The Gripen IN] has taken the essential
philosophy behind the Gripen to the next level,
making it a fighter of the latest generation priced
at less than half of its peers and operating at a
fraction of the cost." The folks at Saab know all
too well how delicate the next step in the MMRCA
selection will be -- the opening of bids and toss-
ups against a benchmark price, understood to be
ready and defined.
It gets better. The ad goes on the declare "Today,
India has a choice". Hmm, yep -- between the
Typhoon and Rafale, right? Well, there's nothing
official about it, but it's been rumoured for a while
that the four companies that were eliminated
three months ago from the Indian MMRCA fighter
competition (including Saab), have been "asked"
to stick around in the country. The applicability of
the aphorism "it ain't over, till it's over" to Indian
defence contracting is well known. And it has
much to do with what some see as a track that
runs parallel to the ongoing selection process. A
track that appears to internalize the possibility of
complete chaos, forcing a Plan B. Imagine that.