IAF briefs Lockheed Martin on MMRCA deal..

[tvsram1992]

No complaints from US!!
We must have publicized the results.

 

[DacterSaab]

I'am not so sure that India will go with rafale. just recently India signed up france to upgrade it mirage 200 fleet worth $2.7 billion. I think this MMRCA is going to EF typhoon.

Also there are couple of reasons in favor of typoon:

political :

1) spain and italy are going through the worst economic crisis of their history. India wants to have leverage over italy and spain.
italy spearheads the coffe club in the UN and India wants to break that.

2) EF consortium is givin lots of ToT, as a matter of fact yesterday itself news came out that EADS would partner with a private india firm
for developemnt of critical aviation technologies ( which nobody is willing to give it to india , not even russia ) , this will change the whole landscape
of the avaition industry in the India.

I agree we can't be sure which fighter would be selected. The Mirage upgrade mentioned by you as a consolation to french (like c-17,c-130j,p-8i deals were considered consolation to Americans) but it might as well be a capability enhancement program that helps create commonality b/w mirage and Rafael fleets (just like MiG upgrade will increase commonality b/w our MiG and MKI fleets) thereby making the mirage upgrade deal a prelude to Rafael's victory in MMRCA.

Also there are a couple of reasons that should also be considered:

political :

1) Victory of EFT in MMRCA would be see a sequel of BJP led propaganda of corruption involving Italian govt. and leader of the ruling govt. which might see the defeat of congress in the upcoming elections because Indian public will take this allegation as more possible compared to previous similar propaganda involving french govt and Sonia Gandhi mainly due to the Italian origin of Mrs. Gandhi.

2) EF consortium giving TOT on all critical technologies that not even Russians are willing to provide us with (although I wonder what that could be) could mean a major boost to our aviation Industry which will manifest in increased capabilities of AMCA along with higher level of indigenousity. making the deal worth it's exorbitant costs due to the learning experience something that's not easy to procure. As we already know the french can be rather stingy when it comes to most critical technologies.

 

[fast]

It is a tad bit short sighted decision. When a country buys a weapon system worth $11-21 Billions it hopes to establish a long term partnership with the seller nation because without such a partnership you end up with some pricey widgets.
Once Europeans begin to induct JSF F-35 Lightening II, the future of Typhoon will be eclipsed. Moreover I remind readers here that Typhoon requires US technology. My views on Rafale are already documented.
LM could not offer F-35 to India way back when the RFPs went out .....because F-35 will not be available to second tier nations until 2018 and beyond. I believe Indians wanted a platform on a tighter schedule.. thus F-16 IN !
One last thing, French have recently slowed the pace of procurement on Rafale due to costs. It would be interesting to see how they ramp up for Indians. Perhaps they will be nimbler(sic) than with their Mirage 2000-5 upgrade project which will see India getting back her jets by the end of this decade!!!! oopsie! Mon Dieu!

All your reasons are good but you can't expect Indian are capable to follow your reasoning. They just loved being ripped off by the French and Russian. Save your breath.

 

[DacterSaab]

better get ripped by French and Russians so we can use their weapons to defend ourselves rather than buy american weapons and then put them in a Museum cause if they don't want you can't use em