Free Republic

Does Typhoon Have Upper Hand in India? Posted by Christina Mackenzie at 5/18/2011 8:02 AM CDT Close and experienced observers of the Indian defense sector are placing their bets on the Eurofighter Typhoon beating the Rafale in the competition to provide India with new combat aircraft. They say the two aircraft down-selected at the end of last month are very similar performance-wise and so the decision is likely to swing to the Typhoon. And why? Because Dassault in December signed a $2.1 million contract to upgrade India's fleet of 51 Mirage-2000s and, these observers say, India is likely to buy...

France tries to tie Rafale with Mirage upgrade RAHUL BEDI New Delhi | 27th Mar Insidious French attempts to link the Indian Air Force's (IAFs) long-postponed and contentious Mirage 2000H fleet upgrade to the $10 billion acquisition of Dassault's Rafale fighters in support of the IAF's requirement of 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), have further delayed the pending retrofit. Ostensibly, the deal to upgrade the IAFs 51 Vajra (Thunderbolt) Mirage 2000Hs, widely expected to be confirmed by end-March with fighter manufacturers Dassault Aviation, official sources said, had been further deferred beyond the March 2011 deadline following unresolved price differences...

Kuwaiti MP links Rafale deal with performance against Gaddafi A Kuwaiti lawmaker has linked his parliamentary bloc's approval of a deal with French Rafale fighters with their performance, in efforts to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. By Habib Toumi, Bureau chief Published: 11:07 March 23, 2011 Manama: A Kuwaiti lawmaker has linked his parliamentary bloc's approval of a deal with French Rafale fighters with their performance in efforts to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Militant MPs have repeatedly warned the Kuwaiti government against purchasing the French-made Rafale warplanes, saying technical reports have recommended the rejection of the deal. "We warn...

Libya, a commercial lifeline for the French Rafale PARIS - A military intervention airline launched Saturday in Libya by an international coalition offers a great opportunity to show action in the French fighter Rafale, which Paris and Dassault manufacturer tried to sell, so far unsuccessfully, for several countries, including Brazil . Saturday, eight Rafale flew into the sky to establish a Libyan-fly zone in compliance with a resolution of the UN Security Council to protect civilians from the military offensive of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Domingo foram seis. Sunday was six. All performed reconnaissance missions and / or attack. Outros...

Obama's Brazil trip may influence possible F/A-18 Hornet deal By Robert Koenig, Beacon Washington correspondent Posted 4:24 pm, Fri., 3.18.11 WASHINGTON - When President Barack Obama travels to Brazil this weekend, one of the many items on his agenda eventually could have an impact on thousands of aerospace workers in St. Louis. Aside from signing agreements on topics such as patents and scientific cooperation Obama and Brazil's president, Dilma Vana Rousseff, are expected to discuss opportunities for American companies in Brazil - and for Brazilian firms in this country. One of the U.S. companies with a potentially huge interest in...

French Rafale is best at dogfight Prashanth G N, TNN, Feb 12, 2011, 04.45am IST BANGALORE: If there is one thing the French Rafales can do best, it's the dogfight. Small and menacing, the Rafale can plunge in and out rapidly for short distances, hitting the enemy aircraft swiftly. Five French pilots have flown the Rafale all the way from France to Bangalore -- over 5,000 miles. "We flew in with three air-to-air refuellings. It was a beautiful flight with the two fighter aircraft following the fuel tanker in front. We had a stopover at UAE before coming to India....

Rafale F3 and AREOS Reco NG: The 21st century reconnaissance team The Rafale F3 will take over recce duties, using the AREOS Reco NG pod developed by Thales. (Photo: Dassault Aviation) 15:10 GMT, February 9, 2011 The AREOS Reco NG pod, an integral part of the F3 standard for Rafale fighters, brings France into the world of all-digital reconnaissance. As a veritable “omnirole” fighter, the Rafale has already replaced several types of warplanes in the French air force and navy. This trend is set to continue in the coming years with the retirement of France’s last Mirage F-1 fighters, the...

The French Fighter Jet That Nobody Wants The Rafale has cost $53 billion and is the key to France's defense economy, but it's not selling abroad By Carol Matlack The Rafale fighter, made by France's Dassault Aviation, is loaded with high-tech avionics, radar, and targeting systems. Now all it needs are customers. France has been peddling the supersonic jet since 2000 and hasn't sold a single one. In the latest setback, Brazil said on Jan. 17 that it would reopen bidding for a fighter contract worth up to $7 billion—a deal France had thought it was close to sealing last...

France Orders 200 Air-to-air Missile to Equip Rafale 2011-01-04 01:19:17 Xinhua Web Editor: Jiang France has ordered 200 air-to-air Meteor missiles to equip its Rafale fighters serving in the air force and navy, the defense ministry said on Monday in a statement. Defense Minister Alain Juppe welcomed the order of the long- range missile designed for French jet Rafale under the cooperation between France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Spain and Britain, according to the ministry. The French General Direction for Ordnance (DGA) has awarded the order to multinational missile producer MBDA. "The first Meteor missile will be delivered to the French...

Close up of Rafale over Swiss Alps winner in Best of the Rest in cover competition By Will Horton on December 27, 2010 This stunningly up-close photograph of a Dassault Rafale at Sion Air Base in Switzerland earned a place in our cover competition's "best of the rest" category. Taken with a Canon EOS 500D by AirSpace photographer Niels_Boswinkel. Look out for details next November for 2011's cover competition. Until then you can upload your photos to AirSpace for a chance to have one featured as our Image of the Week, or to be printed in our publications.

No scalp for Libya ? According to the Defense journalist Jean-Marc Tanguy, the Rafale sale to Libya woud have been jeopardized by the Refusal of the French government to include the sclalp-EG cruise missile in the bid. The scalp-EG is a stealthy subsonic cruise missile using IIR terminal guidance with a range between 250 and 400 km. It is in Service in the French Air Force / Navy on the Mirage 2000D and Rafale B/C/M since the F2 version (2006). It was developped with the UK (where it is known as the Storm shadow and carried by the Tornado GR4)...

)--Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will leave the decision on a multi-billion dollar jet fighter contract to his successor, Dilma Rousseff, who will take over as president Jan. 1. Brazil is looking to buy 36 fighter jets as part of the modernization of its armed forces, a contract which is believed to be worth between $4 billion and $10 billion. The deal has been postponed several times and it now looks that it won't be finalized while Mr. da Silva is in power. Mr. da Silva has expressed a preference for buying the Rafale jets manufactured by France's...

A decision by Brazil to buy 36 modern fighter jets was to take a step closer Monday when president-elect Dilma Rousseff was to ask current Defense Minister Nelson Jobim to stay on in her team to see the deal through, media reported. They were to formalize an agreement made during Rousseff's campaigning ahead of elections October 31 that Jobim would remain in his job for at least the next two years, the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper said. Brazil's defense ministry did not immediately respond to AFP's requests for confirmation of the information. Rousseff takes over as president from her...

Brazil wanted to buy, make French Rafales-WikiLeaks Sun Dec 5, 2010 2:00pm GMT * France ready to transfer Rafale coding to Brazil-WikiLeaks * Nov. 2009 US cables suggest Franco-Brazilian deal near PARIS, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Brazil has sought to buy French Rafale jets and acquire the technology to build them at home for export to other Latin American countries by 2030, the daily Le Monde reported on Sunday, citing leaked U.S. diplomatic cables. Brazil has been negotiating with several nations including France, the United States and Sweden, over a deal to acquire fighter planes as it seeks to renew...

Flying the Eurofighter and France's Rafale FRANCE 24 journalist Apoorva Prasad takes flight in two of France's modern fighter planes in a cockpit comparison between the Eurofighter (pictured) and the Rafale, which recently came under fire from King Hamad of Bahrain. By Apoorva PRASAD (text) "There it is, on your HUD, your ground target!" A box encircled the nuclear power station, showing me the large cooling towers of the target. On the right hand colour display screen, a close up image of the plant appeared. The plane was in a shallow dive : I was flying closer and closer to...

Bahrain denies disparaging France’s Rafale jet fighter A document in the Wikileaks trove released recently said that the King of Bahrain disparaged France’s frontline jetfighter as “yesterday’s technology”. Bahrain disavowed the comments Wednesday. By Apoorva PRASAD (text) According to one US embassy document in a trove leaked by the whistleblower website Wikileaks, King Hamad of Bahrain called France’s frontline fighter jet “yesterday’s technology”. On Wednesday, Bahrain officially denied the comments. A foreign ministry spokesman called them "inaccurate and taken out of context," as reported by the Bahrain News Agency. The relevant US diplomatic cable is classified “secret//noforn”, meaning that non-US...

Gulf ruler agreed France's Rafale old technology By Tim Hepher PARIS | Tue Nov 30, 2010 4:53am EST PARIS (Reuters) - France faces potential embarrassment over its Rafale warplane after a U.S. classified document published by the WikiLeaks website said a Gulf Arab leader agreed that it was "yesterday's technology." The remark reportedly came in a November 1, 2009, conversation between Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and General David Petraeus, who was then in charge of U.S. Central Command, according to a U.S. embassy cable published on the website. Dassault Aviation, which manufactures the plane, said it had no...

<p>PARIS - France's Defence Ministry says a French Rafale fighter jet has crashed into the waters off Pakistan after its pilot parachuted to safety.</p> <p>The Rafale was operating from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which is stationed in the Arabian Sea to support the fight in Afghanistan.</p>

Report: Rafale sale sparks war between France's "industrial jewels" By Stephen Trimble on November 16, 2010 Selling weapons to the United Arab Emirates must not be as easy as it looks. Sure, the Emiratis have plenty of cash and happen to occupy the non-Iranian half of the Strait of Hormuz, but they still like to drive a hard bargain. The global arms industry has waited for years for the UAE to sign a contract to buy 60 Dassault Rafales, which has already lost more potential customers than BP gas station owners in Louisiana. Until recently, France was reportedly resisting demands...

Brazil likely to chose Dassault's Rafale over Saab's Gripen, media says Posted on: Mon, 08 Nov 2010 11:12:02 EST Symbols: BA, SAABF Nov 08, 2010 (NORDIC BUSINESS REPORT via COMTEX) -- 8 November 2010 - Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, will probably not award a deal for 36 fighter jets to Swedish group Saab AB (STO: SAAB B), but will prefer French Dassault Aviation (EPA: AM), Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico reported without naming any sources. Dassault's Rafale will reportedly be the president's first choice in the tender, beating Saab's Jas 39 Gripen, according to Valor Economico. US player...