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EADS Offers Mako Trainer Technology For LCA

well MAKO's tech. isn't actually a failed one....the program was abandoned simply because there was no room for an extra trainer in Europe[room=market:hitwall:]
 
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Yes.. Till the first Rafale is inducted. I have complete faith in France to screw this deal.


The Rafale soon land in India
By Hassan Meddah - PublishedFebruary 12, 2014, at 07:00 | L'Usine Nouvelle No. 3364
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Rafale , India , Dassault Aviation , The Editor's Choice
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An Indian pilot embarks on a Rafale for a demonstration flight to Bangalore in 2011. India has selected the French hunter in 2012.
Indian EPR, difficult to conclude contract for Areva[/paste:font]
ANALYSIS Duplicating a supply chain Rafale made in India in advance, but the signing of the final contract shall not be made before the parliamentary elections scheduled for May due to budget constraints.

The "contract of the century" can he escapeDassault Aviation ? The sale of 126 Rafale to the Indian Army, valued at $ 12 billion (€ 9 billion), is she questioned? The India will not sign an agreement to purchase the French fighter aircraft before the parliamentary elections in the spring due to budget constraints, said Thursday, 6 February the Minister of Defence, Arackaparambil Kurian Antony.February 1, India had already spent 92% of its military equipment budget. "Due to lack of funds, do not expect agreement or final decision in this fiscal year [ending end of March, ed] " , said the Indian minister.

The Rafale has been selected by New Delhi in early 2012. Since, Dassault Aviation is conducting exclusive negotiations with the Indian authorities. After the sudden death of the chief negotiator of the Indian Ministry of Defence, in October 2013, the manufacturer comes up now on the local political agenda. "All committees for strategic purchasing decision on defense will be frozen from mid-February. But today, there is a consensus on the strategy of defense and decisions should not be questioned " says a French officer connoisseur of the country.


Dassault will have to wait several more months. "It takes ten years to sign a big contract a India" , said the used of Indian Affairs. The French manufacturer knows, who practice the subcontinent since 1950 and the sale of Hurricane, its first jet aircraft to equip the French forces. More recently, the modernization of the fleet of 51 Mirage 2000 Indian did not escape the rule. Started in the mid-2000s, negotiations with its partner Thales have resulted in ... 2011! The extreme slowness of the Indian bureaucracy is not a legend. "The notion of time is not the same. When you ask your contact details on the schedule of operations, you often reap a 'very soon' because themselves know nothing. This may mean in three months as in five years " , smiled the observer.

MANY LEAKS IN NEW DELHI

Nevertheless. The manufacturer of the Rafale wants to move quickly. "Our goal is to have finished writing all the documentation - technical, commercial, legal -. relative to the contract in mid-February, we have fifty people mobilized on this project," says Eric Trappier. CEO of Dassault Aviation took a daily telephone point, late morning, with the Indian team. And every day or almost, Indian media, citing"unnamed sources close to the Indian Ministry of Defence" , bring their share information about the progress of discussions!

The contract numbers

- 126 aircraft, including 108 assembled in India
- € 9 billion (estimate)
- 50% of industrial load for India
- 1 final integrator: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)





On 26 January, the local news site DNA spoke doubling the initial amount of the contract, which now friserait the thirty billion dollars! This information is unverifiable. Especially since they are neither denied nor commented upon by key stakeholders."Never no official figure for the contract has not been disclosed either by the manufacturer or by the Indian authorities. Most estimates based on purchasing Gross 126 devices, or the contract is much more complex than that " , provides a casual observer.

The contract includes the provision of any industrialization associated with the delivery of the aircraft.Apart from the first 18 copies, which come out of the factory Merignac (Gironde), the other copies of the Rafale will be assembled in India by public aircraft manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).Half of the production goes to local companies. To achieve this, the installation of a supply chain made in India is anything but obvious. Despite the quality of Indian engineers, industrial maturity is not the same as in France. Technology transfers are never easy.

"Under the licensed production of Mig 21 and Sukhoi 30, HAL has encountered many difficulties. Shipyards Mazagon also suffered to produce submarines DNCS in India" , says Jean-François Maulny the Director of the Research Unit at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS). With their suppliers to sign license agreements on all equipment Rafale, Dassault Aviation and HAL have assessed the skills of consultants, audited production capacity, defined training support through plans.

UNWAVERING SUPPORT TO PARIS

Negotiators wanted to leave nothing to chance. "We enter all the details. This takes time. This extends to screw 5 which is made locally" , according to Eric Trappier. Little information is on the future industrial scheme, but it would make for a supply chain gathered around a few major players such as HAL and private conglomerate Reliance Industries. It would manufacture the wings of the Rafale, according to Indian press. The difference is significant with France, where some 500 SMEs participate in the program of combat aircraft.

The central question of ultimate responsibility aircraft out of the factory of HAL Bangalore was eventually settled. This delicate point is, it seems, long hampered the progress of discussions.Intractable deemed commercially, Dassault has refused to accept such responsibility while HAL is the ultimate integrator. In 2005, the manufacturer of military ships DCNS , in a comparable situation, agreed to take responsibility for the first two Scorpene submarines on six assembled in India by his partner, Mazagon site.

Dassault Aviation has the unwavering support of the French government. The balance of military planning law which defines the defense budget for the period 2014-2019 is based largely on the sale of Rafale export. The state has reduced its purchases in the coming years, relies on foreign orders to ensure a minimum load of at least 11 aircraft per year plant Merignac. The government and Dassault Aviation have planned to redo a point in 2015. During the execution of the previous law, the Air Force had to acquire five more aircraft between 2009 and 2011 to compensate for the absence of export!

The sophistication of the Rafale, often maligned, yet still his best asset to Dassault Aviation negotiations with the Indian authorities succeed. Able to carry 1.5 times its own weight in weapons and fuel, and conduct a variety of missions (interception, air-to-air, nuclear deterrence ...), it meets the needs of a country at odds with two powerful neighbors, China and Pakistan. "This was not the case ofBrazil or of Switzerland , who preferred the more basic Swedish Gripen, says Jean-Pierre Maulny . Only a handful of countries in the world need Rafale. " India is one.

Hassan Meddah
 
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