good for you,now start searching if someone is selling EFF sola in second's.
NEW DELHI: It's finally jet, set and go for the IAF after an agonising wait of 16 years since it first demanded new multi-role fighters. India and France on Friday inked a 7.87 billion euro deal for 36 Rafale fighters, which with their state of the art 150-km range Meteor air-to-air missiles will have a clear combat edge over Pakistan's F-16 jets.
India will get the first Rafale in three years, with all 36 touching down by early-2022. Till then, in the event of a conflict, India will have to deploy two Sukhoi-30MKIs to tackle each Pakistani F-16 due to the latter's superior weapons package, including 80-km range missiles. But once the Rafales are inducted, Pakistan will have to deploy two F-16s for each of them.
Simplistic analogies apart, the Rafale will certainly be a potent force-multiplier for the IAF, capable as it is of also delivering nuclear weapons. The inter-governmental agreement (IGA), inked by defence minister Manohar Parrikar and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian here in South Block, does not put any restriction on the fighter being used as a "strategic platform", said sources.
Parrikar himself was quite gung-ho about the deal. "Rafale is a very potent fighter that will add to the IAF's airpower and deep-strike capabilities," he said. Le Drian added, "The Rafale is really the best fighter jet in the world. It is an omni-role aircraft capable of all kinds of missions."French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation's CEO Eric Trappier said the Rafale was more in competition with the American F-35 fifth-generation fighter because it was "a generation ahead" of the F-16. But the Rafales do cost a packet. The fighters themselves may cost around Rs 700 crore a piece. But the per unit cost zooms to Rs 1,640 crore if the overall deal is taken into account, which includes a decidedly deadly weapons package, all spares and costs for 75% fleet availability and "performance-based logistics support" for five years.
Moreover, the Rafales will be tweaked to specific Indian requirements, which range from the capability for "cold start at high-altitude regions like Leh" to Israeli helmet-mounted displays, advanced missile warning and synthetic aperture radars.
Government sources said India had saved+ through some hardnosed bargaining over the original MMRCA (medium multi role combat aircraft) project be ing negotiated by the previous UPA regime. Moreover, the Rafales will come with much better weapons and maintenance support packages now.
"The Meteor missile is superior to any such missile in the region. The over 300km Scalp air-to ground cruise missile also has two-metre precision capability. Rafale also has a faster turnaround time, capable of undertaking five sorties in a day. The other fighters we have can do only three sorties at the most," said a source.
The Rafale deal also has a 50% offsets clause, under which France will have to plough half of the actual contract value back into India. "This has huge potential to generate direct and indirect employment opportunities in India," he added.Induction of the Rafales will certainly be a strong booster dose for the IAF.
Courtesy TOI
Source: http://nation.com.pk/international/...n-air-force-combat-edge-over-pakistan-s-f-16s
4 reasons why Rafale could ruin Modi and Parrikar's party
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4 reasons why Rafale could ruin Modi and Parrikar's party
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September 23, 2016 09:47 IST
Ajai Shukla explains why there is considerable discomfort within the defence ministry about the Rafale deal.
On a warm Delhi evening on April 3, 2015, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had left his South Block office and was driving to catch his flight to Goa, when his mobile phone received an incoming call from the Prime Minister's Office.
Could he come in urgently, an official asked, the PM would like to talk briefly.
When Parrikar reached the PMO, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sprang a bombshell.
Parrikar was told that, on Modi's forthcoming trip to Paris, he and French President Francois Hollande would announce an agreement for India to buy 36 Rafale fighters.
During Modi's nine-day tour of France, Germany and Canada, Parrikar would have to manage the media and field the inevitable questions.
Taken aback, Parrikar still caught his flight to Goa. Over the next week, he batted loyally on behalf of his PM, publicly defending a decision he neither understood nor agreed with, that was taken over his head, and that senior ministry of defence officials warned him would be difficult to defend.
Today, 17 months later, most pledges that Parrikar issued in defence of Modi's Rafale agreement have proven incorrect.
He told the Press Trust of India in Goa that all 36 Rafale fighters would join the IAF within two years; in fact more than six years will elapse before the final delivery is made.
He repeated the Modi-Hollande undertaking that the price would be 'on terms that would be better than' Dassault's bid in the now cancelled tender for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft. It now turns out that India will pay a vastly higher price.
But Parrikar, through 17 months of defending a deal that was not his, has become the face of the Rafale.
And after Friday, when he and his visiting French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian sign an inter-governmental agreement for 36 Rafales, Parrikar -- and not Modi -- will answer for the purchase.
There is disquiet within the MoD about the acquisition, with officials concerned about subsequent scrutiny by Constitutional authorities like the Comptroller and Auditor General. Their key worries are as follows.
Exorbitant cost
A key element in price negotiations is 'benchmarking', or comparing Dassault's price with other contracts involving the same fighter.
With India, Dassault had already established a benchmark in the MMRCA acquisition, where it had quoted a price for 18 fully built Rafales, just like the 36 fighters that India is now buying.
Speaking to Doordarshan on April 13, 2015, Parrikar had revealed Rafale's bid for 126 fighters, stating: 'When you talk of 126 (Rafale) aircraft, it becomes a purchase of about Rs 90,000 crore' -- Rs 715 crore per fighter after adding all costs.
Now Parrikar would be buying 36 Rafale fighters for Euro 7.8 billion (over Rs 58,000 crore), which is over Rs 1,600 crore per aircraft -- more than double the earlier price.
True, the current contract includes elements that were not there in the 126 fighter MMRCA tender -- including a superior weapons package with Meteor missiles; and performance-based logistics, which bind Dassault to ensure that a stipulated percentage of the Rafale fleet remains combat-ready at all times. The percentage is guessed to be about 75 to 80 per cent, an unchallenging target for Western fighter types.
Even deducting Euro 2.8 billion for the weapons and PBL from the anticipated Euro 7.8 billion contract amount, a Euro 5 billion (over Rs 37,000 crore) price tag for 36 Rafales puts the ticker price of each at over Rs 1,000 crore.
For that the IAF can buy two-and-a-half Sukhoi-30 MKI fighters -- a heavy fighter as capable as the Rafale.
Variation in fighter types
IAF logisticians, who already struggle to maintain, repair and support six different types of fighters -- the Sukhoi-30MKI, Mirage 2000, Jaguar, MiG-29, MiG-27, MiG-21 and the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft -- are hardly welcoming the prospect of a seventh fighter type, which would require expensive, tailor-made base infrastructure, repair depots and spare parts chains.
Air power experts say more Sukhoi-30MKIs would eliminate this need, besides being cheaper.
Alternatively, fast-tracking the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft, which Russia and India intend to co-develop, would eliminate the need for Rafales.
Even if the IAF exercises an option clause for 18 more Rafales, there would be just three operational squadrons, like with the Mirage 2000.
Besides the options clause, nine more Rafales would be needed, since an IAF squadron has 21 fighters.
Sovereign guarantees
While New Delhi is negotiating the Rafale purchase directly with the private vendor, Dassault, the MoD wants sovereign guarantees from the French government, of the kind that come with American equipment bought through the Foreign Military Sales route.
In a FMS procurement -- India's C-130J Super Hercules purchase -- the US Department of Defence (the Pentagon) sets up a dedicated 'project management team' that negotiates on the buyer's behalf, beating down the price, establishing training and logistics support, and providing assurance that the buyer gets everything needed to operate and maintain the product.
Alongside FMS support, corruption is deterred by the stringent US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which vendors seldom dare to violate. This provides comfort to Indian MoD officials against subsequent allegations raised against a deal.
Paris, in contrast, is only willing to give a lukewarm written assurance of support with the Rafale -- something that the MoD refers to disparagingly as a 'comfort letter.'
Piecemeal contracting
India needs some 200 to 300 fighters to replace the MiG-21 and MiG-27 fleet that is being phased out of service. Just 36 Rafales provides little cover, so the IAF hopes to buy not just 18 more under the options clause, but perhaps another tranche later.
MoD officials complain that piecemeal contracting provides little leverage for beating down prices.
The same problem will afflict the procurement of the Gripen NG, or F-16s, which the MoD is weighing as possible options to replace retiring fighters.
With an IGA in the offing, and a formal contract yet to be negotiated, New Delhi would still have the opportunity to address these issues, say MoD officials.
Yet, the IGA on Friday will be celebrated in the IAF as a giant step towards a fighter they have pursued tenaciously for 15 years.
http://www.rediff.com/news/column/f...ld-ruin-modi-and-parrikars-party/20160923.htm
. I just want to bomb America with a lot of Nuclear ICBMs. 
Plz test Taimur ICBM on America.
Because 300+ Su-30MKIs hadn't already given the IAF this edge?
NEW DELHI: It's finally jet, set and go for the IAF after an agonising wait of 16 years since it first demanded new multi-role fighters. India and France on Friday inked a 7.87 billion euro deal for 36 Rafale fighters, which with their state of the art 150-km range Meteor air-to-air missiles will have a clear combat edge over Pakistan's F-16 jets.
India will get the first Rafale in three years, with all 36 touching down by early-2022. Till then, in the event of a conflict, India will have to deploy two Sukhoi-30MKIs to tackle each Pakistani F-16 due to the latter's superior weapons package, including 80-km range missiles. But once the Rafales are inducted, Pakistan will have to deploy two F-16s for each of them.
Simplistic analogies apart, the Rafale will certainly be a potent force-multiplier for the IAF, capable as it is of also delivering nuclear weapons. The inter-governmental agreement (IGA), inked by defence minister Manohar Parrikar and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian here in South Block, does not put any restriction on the fighter being used as a "strategic platform", said sources.
Parrikar himself was quite gung-ho about the deal. "Rafale is a very potent fighter that will add to the IAF's airpower and deep-strike capabilities," he said. Le Drian added, "The Rafale is really the best fighter jet in the world. It is an omni-role aircraft capable of all kinds of missions."French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation's CEO Eric Trappier said the Rafale was more in competition with the American F-35 fifth-generation fighter because it was "a generation ahead" of the F-16. But the Rafales do cost a packet. The fighters themselves may cost around Rs 700 crore a piece. But the per unit cost zooms to Rs 1,640 crore if the overall deal is taken into account, which includes a decidedly deadly weapons package, all spares and costs for 75% fleet availability and "performance-based logistics support" for five years.
Moreover, the Rafales will be tweaked to specific Indian requirements, which range from the capability for "cold start at high-altitude regions like Leh" to Israeli helmet-mounted displays, advanced missile warning and synthetic aperture radars.
Government sources said India had saved+ through some hardnosed bargaining over the original MMRCA (medium multi role combat aircraft) project be ing negotiated by the previous UPA regime. Moreover, the Rafales will come with much better weapons and maintenance support packages now.
"The Meteor missile is superior to any such missile in the region. The over 300km Scalp air-to ground cruise missile also has two-metre precision capability. Rafale also has a faster turnaround time, capable of undertaking five sorties in a day. The other fighters we have can do only three sorties at the most," said a source.
The Rafale deal also has a 50% offsets clause, under which France will have to plough half of the actual contract value back into India. "This has huge potential to generate direct and indirect employment opportunities in India," he added.Induction of the Rafales will certainly be a strong booster dose for the IAF.
Courtesy TOI
Source: http://nation.com.pk/international/...n-air-force-combat-edge-over-pakistan-s-f-16s
Lot of Media boggling Mate Find a Serious Defense thread is hard in PDF these days
Tay.
