French Rafale jet beats Eurofighter in $10bn India deal
 

I'm a little suprised...I honestly believe the Eurofighter was the better of the two.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16809532

I have to admit that I'm surprised. Apparently frenchmen knew what kind of deal Indians were ready to sign.

Congrats to Paris! :salute:

And the Swiss went for the Gripen recently, too. :cry:

The French are putting it down to India's great history with the Mirage 2000.

At least they're still flying Jags, Hawks, and Andovers :o :D

Both aircraft are seem very good but not revolutionary by today standards so it could be down to operating costs.
Seems that French plane is simpler one but has a bit better electronics suite while Typhoon might be more maneuverable with more modern airframe.
Choosing those two according price tag looks logical.

The stealth technology seems to be the future so investing too much in 4th generation fighters might be not so wise.

What you think about this:

Indian Navy is currently building new aircraft carrier fleet which they do not yet have aircrafts. Dassault Aviation happens to have carrier version of Rafale available but Eurofighter consortium doesn't have such version of Typhoon.

Could this have played a role in decision?

(Their current aircraft carrier has 12 Mig-29Ks but I don't believe that Indians are going to acquire more of those. They also have carrier version of their indigenous light attack aircraft.)

Not to mention they have more Sea Harriers than the Royal Navy. :03:

Only because they are the best what INS Viraat can operate. :DL

Oh and I did small error: INS Vikramanditya onboard which those Mig-29Ks are meant to be, have not yet been commissioned to Indian Navy. It have been in sea trials and should be commissioned in 2012.

LOL :DL





Sadly :shifty:

Ouch. That is going to hurt, as the Typhoon was supposed to be Eurofighter's cash cow.

They could operate the Harrier II.

In theory they could have operated the YAK-41 or in the future the FA-35B.

All superior to the Sea Harrier Is they fly. :03:

Calling it that probably didn't help sales in India... :O:

:haha:

:har:

Why not? I'm sure Quake 3 was sold in San Francisco* :smug:

* If there is a big quake there tonight I'll obviously remove this post!

Damn it! TLAM Strike is splitting hairs. :DL

(Semi)Seriously though, I wouldn't count F-35B. If it (and JSF program) maintain their track record by time it enters full production it will propably cost as much as aircraft carrier itself... :O:

Meh, Rafale, Eurofighter... They're both inferior to American jets.

Our jets are so deadly they kill their own pilots! They're so awesome they bend time and ignore the international dateline!