Govt tells IAF to consider Boeing's F-18 Super Hornets for $16 bn order

[Ajaxpaul]

US will always offer something tempting to clinch a deal.

I watched an old documentary on how the US tricked and sold NATO countries the F-16 and beat out the Mirage F-1.

Competition was between the F-16 and Mirage F-1. F-16 had FBW and was more advanced but was still in development at the time.

The Americans promised co production and outsourcing of manufacturing to NATO allies. The quoted per aircraft price was lower than the Mirage so it could win the deal. Once deal secured they had loop holes in the contract and kept jacking the price up as development expenses rose, at the end NATO countries bought a aircraft although advanced but much more expensive then their budget and didnt get the promised production share.

The less said about US and Russia , the better. French was our best bet...let's see.

 

[Novice09]

It's simple bro...after the evaluation, they jacked up the price and said No to HAL.

36 nos bought to save face and time.

Well we both are at fault... while India took 10+ years to finalize... They backtracked on For...

That's why we should focus on LCA and speed up the development of AMCA...

But our defence forces want bombs to kill flies...

 

[Jinn Baba]

Sometimes too much choice can be a bad thing - and India is proving that to be the case.

 

[patman]

India might be trying to force France to drop down prices , Rafael is definitely the top contender . But if the French know they might loose the muti billion $ deal to U.S. & Russian company's then they will drop the price as low as possible , because they can't compete with booing

 

[RIP Pak LAW]

Well when you require something which you can't make/produce... People do milk you..
CPEC is a classic example...

This is how businesses are run...

Demand and supply...

you are comparing fighter jets with infrastructure investment, which will eventually lead to revenue generation, countless jobs, increase in annual GDP - how brainer of you. Love to get milked even if we are getting lesser profits for now since Gwader was never our requirement while power plants were

 

[KapitaanAli]

A blatant sales pitch article.
Just a twist on the old news of us opening up the competition for TE.

Sorry America, we ain't buying unless it's F35 at our terms.

US will always offer something tempting to clinch a deal.

I watched an old documentary on how the US tricked and sold NATO countries the F-16 and beat out the Mirage F-1.

Competition was between the F-16 and Mirage F-1. F-16 had FBW and was more advanced but was still in development at the time.

The Americans promised co production and outsourcing of manufacturing to NATO allies. The quoted per aircraft price was lower than the Mirage so it could win the deal. Once deal secured they had loop holes in the contract and kept jacking the price up as development expenses rose, at the end NATO countries bought a aircraft although advanced but much more expensive then their budget and didnt get the promised production share.

India knows not to trust them. Otherwise F16 would be a done deal by now. It was pushed that hard.

 

[Novice09]

you are comparing fighter jets with infrastructure investment, which will eventually lead to revenue generation, countless jobs, increase in annual GDP - how brainer of you. Love to get milked even if we are getting lesser profits for now since Gwader was never our requirement while power plants were

Well we are buying jets to create DEFENSE INFRASTRUCTURE... that is the reason TOT and MAKE IN INDIA comes into picture... and to have something which you want you have to pay a price...

 

[Ryuzaki]

Highly unlikely,considering USA's insistence on "Foundational Agreements" and the fact that $2 billion is being spent on Rafale for India-specific customizations

 

[SrNair]

They are planning for something .
Possibly for squeezing the French .

Highly unlikely,considering USA's insistence on "Foundational Agreements" and the fact that $2 billion is being spent on Rafale for India-specific customizations

Unlikely ,,Yes.

But there is another side of this development.Interesting because news came after Macron's visit

 

[Imran Khan]

Ok lets see now this game plan

 

[ziaulislam]

what the hell is going on in India, one day we see news about f-35s, than f18s, previously f16s,at times Swedish gripen or add on orders of Rafales and not to forget 10th generation state of art teja bhai [emoji14] - why are they so confused ?

Solution is simple

1. Navy order f18, 54 of them 9-10B$
2. Airforce order gripen , f16 60 each(8$ Each)
3. And additional 36 rafale(5B$)
4. Tejas 120(8billion$)

This would mean IAF and will make every one happy. IAF will get additonal 270fighters in 10 years if deceded today that is like 13 sq. IAF will.still be well short 42 sq but will be around 36-37 And should manage.



Just to pitch in india get 36 mig35 to augment mig29 or give them some other deal

 

[volatile]

Indians are smart as they have successfully turned down chances of all manufacturers to sell to Pakistan , 10 years in MRCA choosed French paid them hefty as among US and other EU manufacturers France is the only country who was willing for business with Pakistan ,Now again with F16 saga for Pakistan and again lobbying F16 for India so those who think Indians are dumb think again its W/W as till that time Indians will able to produce decent fighter

 

[randomradio]

*Cough, cough*



Ok so from frontrunner to just a finalist ...
-Where are thou, truth, where are thou?

And that gem : so the government asked the IAF to ... evaluate Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet,
that it did evaluate less than 10 wasted procurement years ago ... along with the F-16 and the
Gripen all of which the IAF found lacking then and it's not like they're getting any younger;no thing or person ever is.

And in another article in the forums, the
Indian armed forces say their material is
severely outdated so that a question begs
to be asked :

Is the govt just extremely bad at procurement
or does it want India's armies poorly equipped?​

Because the two are beginning to very
closely ressemble each other.

When I was serving, we had a fun saying
for that, it went : dereliction of duty.

The second part is a sales pitch, normal.

Good day to you mate, Tay.

It's election year in India. It's a very similar situation to how it played out in France last year with the chief quitting his job.

The military did not receive a large enough hike.
The MoD's allocation was over 12%. But the revenue budget increased only by 7% and the capital budget was 9% higher. Most of the money went into defence pensions because there was a recent hike for all central govt employees. Defence pensions received a 27% hike.

So nothing new this year. All the money allocated will only go into paying previous liabilities.

It should normalize in another year. Or there may be a mid-year hike after the Karnataka polls or the monsoon season.

 

[spartanblade2]

Indians are smart as they have successfully turned down chances of all manufacturers to sell to Pakistan , 10 years in MRCA choosed French paid them hefty as among US and other EU manufacturers France is the only country who was willing for business with Pakistan ,Now again with F16 saga for Pakistan and again lobbying F16 for India so those who think Indians are dumb think again its W/W as till that time Indians will able to produce decent fighter

Guess what. Today Pakistan [emoji1191] has 105 JF-17 Thunder and India [emoji1128] has 5 Tejasss

 

[A.P. Richelieu]

Why did India bought only 36 Rafale... bro things are not as simple as they look... India badly need new birds and at affordable price...

India thought they were getting 126 Rafales, built by HAL, with warranty from Dassault and TOT for $10B, and found out they would be getting 126 Rafales with warranty from HAL and limited TOT for $26B.
I do not think that Dassault/France has changed anything significant in their offer since that was rejected.

US will always offer something tempting to clinch a deal.

I watched an old documentary on how the US tricked and sold NATO countries the F-16 and beat out the Mirage F-1.

Competition was between the F-16 and Mirage F-1. F-16 had FBW and was more advanced but was still in development at the time.

The Americans promised co production and outsourcing of manufacturing to NATO allies. The quoted per aircraft price was lower than the Mirage so it could win the deal. Once deal secured they had loop holes in the contract and kept jacking the price up as development expenses rose, at the end NATO countries bought a aircraft although advanced but much more expensive then their budget and didnt get the promised production share.

The initial four NATO countries built complete aircraft, both in Belgium and in the Netherlands and still have contractual rights to deliver parts for ALL F-16s built worldwide.
They probably have done very well out of the decision to go F-16.
The LM F-16 plant, if sold to India can produce maybe 40% of the value of a finished F-16. The other 60% has to be supplied from more than a dozen countries, including the original four NATO countries.