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Posted on 05/11/2011 8:13:57 AM PDT by Rafale
India's procurement of 126 multi-role combat aircraft has been one of the most eagerly anticipated defense deals in years, and not just because of its US$11 billion value.
The selection was always going to be interpreted as an expression of New Delhi's evolving strategic outlook, and to some in Washington, which has built an increasingly close alliance with India driven by a mutual wariness of China, a win for either Boeing or Lockheed Martin, the two US contractors competing for the contract, seemed assured.
But the Americans were wrong to think that friendship alone would unlock the door to India's defense dollars. At the end of April, the Indian government announced that neither US firm had even made it onto the final short list, with Dassault of France and the European EADS consortium winning through at their expense.
Having made plain that the US was "deeply disappointed" by the outcome, the US ambassador to India promptly resigned, citing personal reasons that seemed barely to mask his frustration that American lobbying had failed in spite of President Barack Obama's personal appearance in New Delhi last November.
Lockheed Martin's F-16 was perhaps always an outsider to fulfill India's requirement: Pakistan already operates the aircraft, and this counted against it right from the start. But the Americans thought, not unreasonably, that Boeing's versatile F/A-18 Super Hornet, backed up by industrial offsets from General Electric as well as Boeing itself, was a strong claimant.
Unfortunately, the Indian Air Force's technical evaluators didn't see it that way. They felt that the newer French and European fighters performed better in India's often challenging operating environments. The Europeans also went further on technology transfer, while the US's end user agreements struck India as needlessly prohibitive.
(Excerpt) Read more at atimes.com ...
India didn't want to have to create a separate support system from the Russian-based technicians they now have.
Like asking a company that has only driven Fords for 60 years to buy all Volvos from now on.
I guess he didn't realize Obama had a zero batting average when he tried to lobby for the US. Examples include, Olympics, Global Warming, Economic Policy Harmonization, etc....
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Not to mention we’ve been throwing huge amounts of money at Pakistan over the past years. I wouldn’t buy orrely on defense technology from a power who backed my enemy.
Interesting username for a first thread, especially with the first thread discussing France being chosen over the US.
Good point, India would always have to worry that Pakistan could have a strategic insight into their military might.
Yeah, about all those work visa applications.
Interesting...your username is RAFALE and the thread is about RAFALE, plus you registered 6 days ago.
No.
Not true-the US aircraft and systems were significantly less expensive than the European systems, which are still in development. About training technicians, the European systems still require modernisation of infrastructure.
Well India is not some banana republic who is living on US dole since her inception unlike Pakistan.
Lol. Typical US arrogance, in this context. Here's your bottom line:
Aboulafia points out that the US also failed to overcome the "unfortunate legacy" of its refusal to export critical aircraft components to India during the 1999 Kargil conflict with Pakistan. India needed cast-iron guarantees that nothing like this would ever happen again, and these were not forthcoming.
With the current administration, the US will never live down its backstabber legacy.
What is so interesting ??My user name or my post ???Well am an Indian and Rafale is my favourite ,is’t some kinda violation here coz this my first post and I still gotta learn..
Good point but i would like to add some others like
1>US strings attached to there planes.
2>Indo-US past experience that what what article explained itself.
3>US military AID is not going well with Indians ,everybody knows what those F 16 ,Perry class Frigate ,AMMRAM for.
LOL chill. This is a pro-American forum, not some 2 bit foreigner forum where some foreigner loves to trash this country.
IBTZ. I love the smell of ozone in the morning...
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