Dassault Rafale wins big Indian defense contract

notageek

Beating the likes of the Eurofighter Typhoon, American F16 & F18 and MiG 35. Well, only beating the Eurofighter Typhoon really. The rest were out of consideration long time ago.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dassault-Rafale-wins-MMRCA-deal-beating-Eurofighter-Typhoon/articleshow/11700801.cms

Never heard of this plane and it is French. Hm... looks very bad.
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wswartzendruber · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 2:31 pm Post subject:

There was an article on this plane I read back in 1998. It was #3 to only the F-22 and EF2000, from what I understand.

notageek · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 3:05 pm Post subject:

Okay, then it isn't that bad, considering the price-performance advantage.
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aidanjt · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 3:56 pm Post subject:

notageek · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 4:06 pm Post subject:

Quite possible.

They shortlisted Eurofighter, then all of a sudden this.
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erm67 · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:21 pm Post subject:

According to our defense minister we are going to save a lot of money in manutention and live costs in 10 years with the jsf .......
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aidanjt · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:34 pm Post subject:

erm67 · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:50 pm Post subject:

pjp · Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:31 pm Post subject:

Does it come with a yellow racing stripe, or is that only allowed when deployed in French units?
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Prenj · n00b Joined: 20 Nov 2011 Posts: 4 Location: Mostar, BiH

JSF is pointless in any scenario, except when a president wants to be cool and say he spent less money then he should have spent if he went for F-22s.

From tactical perspective F22-> PAK FA -> JSF. Hell even flankers with new radaras beat JSF. Its slow, not stealthy enough and just plain stupid.

Some pretty damn good reads not by your patriotic propaganda machine, but by bit more independent aussies:

http://www.ausairpower.net/jsf.html

This one is really good:
http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-NOTAM-170209-1.html

ichbinsisyphos · Guru Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 535

The JSF is designed to be cheap and produced in great numbers, that's all.
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BoneKracker · Veteran Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1271 Location: U.S.A.

The JSF is inferior in air-to-air combat to the very newest top-of-the-line air superiority fighters (of which there are, I think, three; one of which is actually in service: the F-22). Nevertheless, the JSF is the best multi-role fighter available at the moment, if your requirements include things like STOVL and use in a close air support role, which has turned out to be what fighters are actually doing 95% of the time with the threat we have been engaged with lately.

Cost matters, because it equates to how many you have. That's related to another factor that is important: fleet size (what computer people would call "size of installed user base") because it drives economies of scale (and therefore, life cycle costs) and important wartime logistical realities, such as being able to get parts even if your own factories have been bombed out or you have exceeded their capacity. There is very great value in allies using the same weapons.

Air superiority is indeed a critical element of defense capability, but it's not all there is. How many air superiority battles have been fought in the last 50 years? Also, I suspect that air dominance is going to become the domain of drones very soon.
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aidanjt · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 12:54 am Post subject:

The only thing the F-35 actually does remotely well is eat into the budgets of superior aircraft.
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BoneKracker · Veteran Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1271 Location: U.S.A.

aidanjt · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 1:21 am Post subject:

You mean STOVL? Great acronym for an inferior version of the harrier. Nor does the F-22 need all that much runway anyway.
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notageek · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 1:54 am Post subject:

notageek · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:31 am Post subject:

108 of those may be manufactured in India. This could be the reason.

Edit: s/wil/may/
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BoneKracker · Veteran Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1271 Location: U.S.A.

aidanjt · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:38 am Post subject:

notageek · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:41 am Post subject:

notageek · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:43 am Post subject:

BoneKracker · Veteran Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1271 Location: U.S.A.

notageek · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:45 am Post subject:

Yes.

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BoneKracker · Veteran Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1271 Location: U.S.A.

You guys should have, like, "The Tatafighter": a guy with two porta-potty doors strapped to his arms, a hand grenade in his mouth, and a bottle rocket shoved up his ass.
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pjp · Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:52 am Post subject: