anant_s
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If manufacturing in some form comes to India, per unit price will come down, but more than that it will bring in some really high end machining and fabrication technology, which will percolate down the line and benefit Indian Aerospace sector and that is where we will get to see offset advantageBut not with the current price tag.
Yes Availability factor apart, what Rafale marine version will bring is commonality with IAF and hence further cost effectiveness. I'm trying to find some literature on this unsuccessfully, but hypothetically speaking, if there is going to be an AC to AC battle ever, the likely contenders at high end of spectrum will be J 31. Now we don't have much details of J 31 but in a speculated environment of Rafale M vectored by E2D, the scales could be tilted in favor of IN.Rafale M : See our Navy always shown interest in Marine version of Rafale. Rafale at sea will be a beast specially in our IOR and SCS. A dog fighter, A bomb truck, Stealth fighter, Carrier borne jet and more over the number of shorties can be taken by a French jets are more when compared with Russian ones. We learnt it from our history and very recently in Kargil war. The beast Mig29 is a champ but availability was just 30-55% while silent beauty Mirage 2K took almost double the shorties when required. Whole MMRCA was to buy 100+ new Mirage 2K as MRCA. Later converted into MMRCA due to advancement of Time. One Rafale can carry and do lots of missions of multiple Mirage. This is the thoughts we have on Rafale and the reason to get selected. Trust and Morale boost!!!
F 35 program promises the moon, but given its protracted development history, i'm not sure when these will be available. There is no doubt that these will be offered to India, but how are they going to fit in our budget and tactical scheme of things, i'm not sure.But we should not get carried away. F35 lightening Vertical takeoff landing is a must have requirement for our Navy. It's a sitting duck in air for airforce but for Navy and Island defence fleets it's a Game changer. Naval Sam systems and electronic warfare capabilities at sea are critical when you want to carry out an assault on Naval fleet. Here is where F35 comes into play. Which can blind enemies radars and launch missiles from far way.
Besides Rafale, i think two more deals could be signed
Areva's Evolutionary Presuurized (water) Reactor EPR (1650 MWe) for Jaitapur stage 1 (2 units)
Alsthom's Prima 2 locomotive (12000 HP) for Eastern DFCIL. The company's website indicates closure of agreement signing in 2016.