Posted on 04/27/2011 6:29:56 PM PDT by cold start
India has told the United States that it will not be buying American for its $10-billion fighter aircraft deal. This more or less leaves the Eurofighter Typhoon and the French Rafale as the only remaining contenders for the deal. The two US contenders, Boeing and Lockheed, received formal letters fr om the Indian Ministry of Defence as to why their respective aircraft, the F/A-18 Superhornet and the F-16 Superviper, did not fulfil the technical requirements of Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft contract, said US and Indian sources.
Defence Minister AK Antony has been signaling privately for weeks that the Indian Air Force and his ministry would go for one of the European fighters.
The Russian contender, the MiG 30, along with the Swedish Gripen received similar notes as the US firms.
The Indian notification will come as a major shock to bilateral relations. Washington had seen such a purchase, the first time India would be buying a US warplane, as a sign of India's interest in upgrading strategic relations.
Indian officials were quick to say that Indo-US relations were greater than a single arms purchase. But given that it follows on US nuclear reactor purchases being bogged down in liability issues, the decision will strengthen Indo-skeptics in Washington.
New Delhi will hide behind technical reasons, the two European fighters are generally seen as aerodynamically superior if not necessarily better fighting platforms.
New Delhi: The Defence Ministry has shortlisted Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale from among six competitors participating in the $10.5-billion tender to provide the Indian Air Force with Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), say sources.
The Dassault and the Eurofighter, according to sources, are the only participants asked to extend the validity of their commercial bids and have been called to the Defence Ministry on Thursday, the sources add.
Sources also say that the other competitors - Boeing F/A-18, Lockheed-Martin's F-16, UAC's MiG-35 and Saab's Gripen - haven't received a message or a letter.
The MMRCA deal is meant to provide the Indian Air Force with approximately 126 new state-of-the-art fighter aircraft.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/govt-shortlists-eurofighter-rafale-for-fighter-jets-sources-101947
Another fail for the Big O!
The Indians aren’t stupid. They see how 0bama has treated our other allies. Why would they want to upgrade their strategic relationship with an USA led by this buffoon?
What bases will be available?
Chess game has started.
There’s a reason why Indian wants the Rafale: possible license production. That way, they could build both the regular Rafale for the Indian Air Force and the Rafale M for the Indian Navy, especially since the Indian Navy plans to have four new aircraft carriers by 2020.
Great photo!
The list, ping
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“didn’t the Saudis cancel their order for 600 Billion over Mubarak?”
It was $60 billion, but yes.
The “strings attached” were probably the deal killer. They did not want to be dependent on US for spare parts that could be withheld if some US administration wanted to squeeze them.
According to official reports there are four aircrafts that failed the technical evaluation. Now we know those are F-16, F/A-18 E/F, Mig 35 and Grippen. In addition the CISMOA and EUMA was a sore point of contention between US and India (and is likely to impact future deals). Also Obama administration has stalled the negotiations over the purchase of American nuclear reactors over liability issues.
I still say the Rafale is now in the lead because you know Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) wants license production rights, and since the French AF Ralafe and French Navy Rafale share many common components, that could mean a long production run at HAL, possibly over 300 planes.
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