So thats Recon, SEAD, Deep Strike, Anti Ship role - all done very well by a 30 year old fighter - and trust me it could even take on air superiority missions if the britishers weren't too focused on showing off the typhoon. The Libyan air force used decades old equipment - mirage f1 and su 22 - shooting down a couple of those planes can hardly be a proof of air superiority.
You are putting too much emphasis on the age, without taking into account, that the Tornado was able to do so much (but still less then Rafale), because it was upgraded and is now a very capable fighter. By your logic, our Mirage 2000s and Mig 29s that also are around 25 years old, are not capable too, which is a big mistake mate! Even our Mig 21 Bisons can take out a modern fighter today with it's BVR capability, although compared 1 on 1, tech by tech it is clearly inferior.
The Tornado were the prime fighter of the RAF in Libya and the EF only assisted them, while Rafale clearly showed the best performance in all roles and that's why it's omni role proven now. Especially it's penetration capablilities thanks to SPECTRA and it's low detectability, as well as the SEAD capability impressed even journalists that normally prefered EF.
Here's a report on libyan air defence before the campaign began - and this is the conclusion
I was talking about an official statement of the US denfence ministry, after the B2 and cruise missile strikes. Again, the fact that neither their F15s, nor even the F18 Growlers were used before these strikes says enough about how the US assessed the risks.
Thats exactly what I said - The point is debatable - We cant conclude that the rafale is the stealthier than its competitors because the EFT was also called stealthy by some so was the super hornet - the russians claimed they had reduced the RCS of the mig 35 5 times as compared to the mig 29. So no conclusions can be made as to this.
Exactly, we can't say it for sure and that's why I don't debate on figures, but we can take certain things into account! EF don't has these special RAM treatment, so don't has the same benefit in reduction of the RCS. EFs engine has a higher IR signature and is easier to detect in this regard. It also has active puls doppler MAWS, which makes it more detectable in the EM fields than Rafale with IR MAWS. EF has passive targeting capability only via IRST, which makes it dependable to active radar in BVR and in the same field it can't offer a MICA IR, that allows silent interceptions from long ranges. All this are reasons why Rafale is less detectable than EF, because that was one of the development aims of the Rafale, beeing hard to detect and offer alternative detection and targeting capabilities, beside the radar.
My point was that this factor probably did not effect the decision. I hardly think any other european nation is going to put an arms embargo over such a lucrative market any time in the future, especially when their own economies are not doing so well( to put it mildly)
It don't have to be embargos, but it can be simpler things. During Kargil war we changed certain things on the Mirage fighters, neither Dassault, nor France ever complained about it. On the other side, when we sold the old Islander aircrafts to Myanmar, what was the reaction?
Britain warns India against selling aircraft to Myanmar
NEW DELHI: British High Commissioner Michael Arthur on Monday said India's sale of aircraft to Myanmar could impact its Navy's plan to replace fighters on the aircraft carrier INS Viraat and supply of spares for helicopters. ...
The Hindu : National : Britain warns India against selling aircraft to Myanmar
And now we are again not doing what they or the US wants again, by not imposing an oil embargos on Iran, so is it possible that we get spare issues for British or US aircrafts again? Sure it is, we simply can't rule it out and since it effects the security of our country, we shouldn't test it.
Transfer of technology was a clause in the agreement - The question was extent and while it is true that the US might not have given us the ToT of AESA radar all the rest were willing - so this was not an offer from france alone and hence not a factor in it getting chosen OVER another plane offering the same deal
Yes, ToT was part of the agreement, but not "full" ToT and not of "critical" parts, everybody new what we wanted and this competition gave us the chance to get a hand on these high techs. Rafale, EF and the Mig were the only fighters that could be offered with much or even full ToT of the radar, since they develop their radars on their own unlike Gripen and from these 3 only Rafale has an AESA developed yet. The Zhuk AE is still under development, the Captor E is not even available as a prototype or fully funded. So the French indeed had some advantages here!
As I said many times, Rafale for India means the best package of advantages, because it offers advantages in all areas and that's most likely why it was selected. It simply was the obvious choice for us, while in other countries it might not.