The Rafale superior to the Eurofighter? Don’t make me laugh. The best that can be said is that it is a more ‘mature’ airframe that has had more time for problems to be ironed out and its pilots are generally more experienced. In the air-to-air role, the EF as an air platform totally outclasses the Rafale, and this gap will widen more as the EF and its avionics/weapons systems (particularly its radar) mature and its pilots gain more experience.
The advantage of the Rafale is that (for the moment) it is a superior air-to-ground platform and it can land on a carrier. Again, if these are more important considerations than pure air-to-air superiority, then the Rafale might not be an unreasonable choice for some customers, particularly India.
As for the better cost efficiency of the Gripen, you could certainly argue that at less than half the price and with greater fuel efficiency, it is better value for money for most countries that are considering it, but the fact of the matter is that if you want the best a2a platform and you aren’t the United States of America, the Eurofighter is the best that you can get right now if you are willing to pay...
http://files.newsnetz.ch/upload//1/2/12332.pdf
Rafale beats the EF hands down in every category. Eurofighter “totally outclasses” the Rafale? You make ME laugh every time you use that word “outclasses”. EF "outclasses" nothing. Right now the “gap” is actually in favor of Rafale. The gap MAY shrink if the consortium members get their act together. If the can come to a decision on the radar/avionics and weapon system but not with development costs spiraling and member countries in disagreement and cutting down on the number of their fighters. The EF already lost out in India, Japan, Switzerland and Turkey and got canceled in Greece. While Rafale just won the largest ever contract in India and poised to win in Brazil and UAE. The EF Typhoon's future at the moment looks bleak. As I said it's only a paper tiger right now.
As for India, Rafale would a basic multi role fighter. The future air superiority role will be taken on by the PAK FA .......which will make the EF Typhoon look like ....your favourite .....Gloster Gladiator!
And read about Hungarian airforce shooting down a Typhoon with their Gripen.....
The Gripen occupies a sweet spot at lower end of the Cost to Capability chart. By the time the EF matures into a capable platform there will be quite a few 5th gen stealth fighters programs from Russia, China, India, South Korea, Turkey and Japan occupying the other end of the performance scale. EF will be somewhere in the middle occupying a spot called useless and overpriced. Its only chance of winning a combat will be against old Soviet Migs from third world airforces.