Indian Air Force to evaluate Typhoon........

[GengisKhant]

The Indian defence ministry is now finally ready to fire the starters gun for the race to supply 126 multi-role combat fighters to IAF, with six contenders vying with each other to reach the finishing line first.

The much-delayed RFPs (request for proposals), inviting technical and commercial bids, will be issued towards the end of this month. "All the complex issues, including the technical specifications and the 30% offset clause, have been sorted out. The fighter companies will have six months to respond," said an official.

With the pre-contest favourite Mirage-2000-V out of the race, the RFPs will now go to the Russian MiG-35 (RAC MiG), French Rafale (Dassault), Swedish JAS-39 (Gripen), Eurofighter Typhoon (consortium of British, German, Spanish and Italian companies) and, of course, the American F/A-18 "Super Hornets" (Boeing) and F-16 "Falcons" (Lockheed Martin).

Aviation majors are already in full throttle to bag this major contract, valued over $6.5 billion, under which around 20 fighters will be imported and the rest will be manufactured in India under transfer of technology.

The IAF, is desperate for the race to begin, faced as it is with a depleting fighter squadron (each has 12 to 18 jets) strength which will touch 29 next year from a high of almost 40 two decades ago. Though IAF would like the race to be a sprint, it realises it will be more of a marathon. "It will take around three years to actually sign the contract after evaluations and negotiations. The six fighters have quite different characteristics," said an IAF officer. Their prices, too, vary.

The single-engined and light-weight F-16, JAS-39 and MiG-35 fighters fall in the $25-40 million price range. Conversely, the twin-engined heavier F/A-18, Typhoon and Rafale jets fall in the $55-70 million range. The final price depends on what systems are included in the fighter.

GengisK :ok:

[South Bound]

No chance we could just flog them 126 of ours, get a bit closer to the number we actually need is there? ;)

[GengisKhant]

South Bound....., yes I expect we could, but what would we use at the annual air shows to thrill the Anoracks & the British Taxpayer ????

GengisK :)

[Navaleye]

SouthBound makes a valid point. This does present us with an opportunity to offload some of our excessive Typhoon holdings and give us the chance to buy more of what we actually need such as the F-35.

[GengisKhant]

Navaleye...., what makes you think for a minute that the Typhoon would be chosen over the MIG-35? The IAF have a long standing association with the Russian Fed aircraft and armaments companies, and have a much closer working relationship with the Federation, than they do with European indistries....., pity the Chinese are not producing anything significant yet, as they would have been in with a shout, even if only through emerging nations mutual support for each other!!!

GengisK :O

[MEON VALLEY FLYER]

Sadly the days of them buying our surplus, worn out, rust bucket kit are long gone. They wised up to that one.
So it's either the scrap head or target practice for our surface fleet, since they did a deal to build chinese frigates.

[Jackonicko]

More of what we actually need, like the JSF?

Do be sensible, Navaleye.

An aircraft that won't be available before we've had to retire most of the GR9s?

An aircraft we won't be able to repair, maintain, or upgrade without LM and US Government permission?

An aircraft which won't carry our key future weapons at all, or won't carry them in the 'Day One' configuration that represents the sole reason to buy it, or won't carry them for decades?

As to unloading surplus Typhoons, chances are we'll need more of them, not fewer, to replace some of the GR4 capabilities that won't be replaceable by UAVs. (To say nothing of the JSFs that we should be cancelling if we can't get the ITAR waivers/tech transfer we need).

And the surplus is tiny. 232 does 137 for an OCU, OEU, attrition and sustainment over the planned lifetime of the jet, and seven squadrons, of which we still need at least five, and more probably six. So there are probably 30 spare Typhoons, at most, and those could easily be soaked up by extending the OSD further to the right.

And our partners won't let us sell UK RAF aircraft on to export customers without penalty, because such export sales would otherwise represent extra work for the consortium.

The IAF clearly have a better grasp of useful air power tools than you do.

[South Bound]

Navaleye, was thinking we could buy more stuff we were actually likely to use in the foreseeable future (future as defined by DPA!).

Maybe AT, SH, defensive aids, body armour, ground comms etcetcetc

Now then, how many C17 would cancelling an Astute buy....

[GengisKhant]

One of the reasons that the Indian AF is looking at a replacement Multi-role aircraft is due to the fact that Pakistan and China are collaborating on a joint aircraft venture. The Pakistan Air Force is expecting the delivery of its first multi-role combat aircraft modelled on China’s FC-1 Xiaolong in early 2007. The Air Force plans to induct more than 100 Joint Fighter-17 (JF-17) Thunders, jointly produced by China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, to replace a fleet of ageing Mirage fighters.

The program is on schedule and the fourth prototype would be tested by the end of April this year. Testing and weapons integration will follow. Small batch production of the single-seat, single-engine JF-17, will begin in China in June and the aircraft would be delivered to Pakistan in early 2007..


Serial production of the aircraft would start at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra by June 2007, with aim of supplying both the Pakistan Air Force and export markets.
Pakistan and China had been negotiating with different companies to buy the avionics package for the JF-17 aircraft, which at $12 million apiece is half the cost of an F-16.
BAE Systems Plc was one option being considered for sourcing the avionics, according to defence and diplomatic sources.

GengisK :ok: