MMRCA 2.0 - Updates and Discussions

What is your favorite for MMRCA 2.0 ?

  • F-35 Blk 4

    Votes: 31 13.1%
  • Rafale F4

    Votes: 187 78.9%
  • Eurofighter Typhoon T3

    Votes: 3 1.3%
  • Gripen E/F

    Votes: 6 2.5%
  • F-16 B70

    Votes: 1 0.4%
  • F-18 SH

    Votes: 9 3.8%
  • F-15EX

    Votes: 9 3.8%
  • Mig-35

    Votes: 1 0.4%

  • Total voters
    237
My estimate:
2019 for RFP
2021 for shortlist
2022 for L1
2023 for contract signature
2027 for first squadron delivery

We cannot afford such a slow process

Just conduct parallel and secret negotiations with France and announce the winner as Rafale

Make a JV with HAL
 
We cannot afford such a slow process

Just conduct parallel and secret negotiations with France and announce the winner as Rafale

Make a JV with HAL

A GTG contract for 90 jets MII was considered, but following through with SPM was more important, so the plan was shelved and we got MMRCA 2.0.

But, as mentioned above, we can order a second tranche of 36 Rafales to make up for any delay with MMRCA 2.0.
 
Already Considering Vendors For 110 Fighter Jets: Nirmala Sitharaman

The defence ministry had in April this year issued an RFI to procure 110 fighter jets. The IAF requires 42 squadrons in view of a two front threat from Pakistan and China.
NEW DELHI:

The government has "not forgotten" the Indian Air Force or IAF's requirements and is already considering the bids received through a Request for Information (RFI) for procurement of 110 fighter jets, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in New Delhi on Friday.

"The rest (of the required fighter jets) will be produced as per strategic partnership programme for which the RFI has already been issued. So, we have not forgotten the rest," Ms Sitharaman said at a press briefing held after the Supreme Court dismissed petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the 36 Rafale fighter jets deal with French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation.

"The RFI has a laid down procedure, and as per that whoever comes in... There are already coniderations. And the quality stipulations are all being applied and being looked into. So, it will go through its due course," she added.

The minister said the work was "already going on" for the full capability of the air force.

The defence ministry had in April this year issued an RFI to procure 110 fighter jets. The IAF requires 42 squadrons in view of a two front threat from Pakistan and China. It is currently doing with 31 fighter squadrons of 18 jets each.

COMMENT
"While the United Progressive Alliance government's metrics for obtaining the total required number of fighter jets was that they would bring in 18 jets and then manufacture the rest here, they had not done either. What we have done here... Since additional time was being lost, so instead of one squadron of 18, we have bought two squadrons in flyaway condition, which is why it is 36," she said.

Already Considering Vendors For 110 Fighter Jets: Nirmala Sitharaman
 
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Slovakia signs for 14 Lockheed Martin F-16 combat aircraft
Dec 13, 2018


Slovakia has signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin for 14 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70/72 combat aircraft (12 single-seat and 2 two-seat models).

Slovakia has signed the contract on Wednesday with Lockheed Martin vice president of international business development Ana Wugofski for new
F-16 Block 70/72 combat aircraftto replace its Russian made MiG-29 jets.

“I’m delighted to be here today to witness this historic, very important moment,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan said in Bratislava. “This is a significant step for Slovakia in it is own defense, as an important NATO ally, and as an important step forward in the bilateral relationship between the United States and Slovakia,” Sullivan said.

The first four jets are scheduled to be delivered by 2022, the remainder the following year.

Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said his country will pay over 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) for the aircraft. The deal also includes ammunition, the training of pilots and other personnel and logistics services.

43308_obr1.jpg

“By signing, Slovakia declares it is ready to meet its obligations to increase its military budget and reach the goal of two percent of gross domestic product,” Pellegrini said.

The Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70/72 is the latest and most advanced F-16 on the market today. The F-16 Block 70/72 configuration includes numerous enhancements designed to keep the F-16 at the forefront of international security, strengthening its position as the world’s foremost combat-proven 4th Generation multi-role fighter aircraft.

The F-16 Block 70/72 provides advanced combat capabilities in a scalable and affordable package. The core of the F-16 Block 70/72 configuration is an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, a modern commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)-based avionics subsystem, a large-format, high-resolution display; and a high-volume, high-speed data bus. Operational capabilities are enhanced through a Link-16 Theater Data Link, Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod, advanced weapons, precision GPS navigation, and the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS).

Slovakia signs for 14 Lockheed Martin F-16 combat aircraft
 
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You don't mean to say you'll blackmail the other person do you. Please be a bit careful, you're ment to do so much for country. I don't want the country to loose you,, that's all.
Buddy, on many occasions I have written that I was trained for this kind of jobs. A person trying to trap me will get trapped himself..
 
Buddy, on many occasions I have written that I was trained for this kind of jobs. A person trying to trap me will get trapped himself..

if you actually are capable of succeeding creating a fighter for the country, then you are a $20 billion asset to this country. An enemy country (France is run by rothschild international bankers as has been proved by the whole anti-macron yellow vest movement situation) decides the assets to deploy to disable you based on your worth to this country. You would be totally worth any level of deployment.

There is a reason that in Russia and China, they create cities isolated from public for defence and strategic scientists to live. Many times these sites are classified. Please don't mock this logic. Stupidity is not heroic.

Travel to France after the job is done. Atleast give the blueprints to some other safe guy so if something hppens to you then the designs still survive and can be used later by some other patriot.
 
Slovakia signs for 14 Lockheed Martin F-16 combat aircraft
Dec 13, 2018


Slovakia has signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin for 14 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70/72 combat aircraft (12 single-seat and 2 two-seat models).

Slovakia has signed the contract on Wednesday with Lockheed Martin vice president of international business development Ana Wugofski for new
F-16 Block 70/72 combat aircraftto replace its Russian made MiG-29 jets.

“I’m delighted to be here today to witness this historic, very important moment,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan said in Bratislava. “This is a significant step for Slovakia in it is own defense, as an important NATO ally, and as an important step forward in the bilateral relationship between the United States and Slovakia,” Sullivan said.

The first four jets are scheduled to be delivered by 2022, the remainder the following year.

Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said his country will pay over 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) for the aircraft. The deal also includes ammunition, the training of pilots and other personnel and logistics services.

43308_obr1.jpg

“By signing, Slovakia declares it is ready to meet its obligations to increase its military budget and reach the goal of two percent of gross domestic product,” Pellegrini said.

The Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70/72 is the latest and most advanced F-16 on the market today. The F-16 Block 70/72 configuration includes numerous enhancements designed to keep the F-16 at the forefront of international security, strengthening its position as the world’s foremost combat-proven 4th Generation multi-role fighter aircraft.

The F-16 Block 70/72 provides advanced combat capabilities in a scalable and affordable package. The core of the F-16 Block 70/72 configuration is an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, a modern commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)-based avionics subsystem, a large-format, high-resolution display; and a high-volume, high-speed data bus. Operational capabilities are enhanced through a Link-16 Theater Data Link, Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod, advanced weapons, precision GPS navigation, and the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS).

Slovakia signs for 14 Lockheed Martin F-16 combat aircraft
And so the F16 production line keeps running.

The Air National Guard too has signed up for upgrading around 100 of its F16 to Block70 standards.
 
Saab threatens MoD with legal action over Russia contract for VSHORADS
Weapons OEMs complain MoD contracting is unpredictable and opaque

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 30th Nov 18

Mirroring frustration amongst international arms firms at the unpredictability and opacity of India’s weapons procurement, Swedish company Saab says it could take the ministry of defence (MoD) to court over the November 19 award of a $1.5 billion contract for Igla-S air defence missiles to Russian entity, Rosoboronexport.

Last Saturday, Business Standard reported (“Air defence missile contract embroiled in vendor protests”) that Saab had shot off four protest letters to the MoD alleging grave irregularities in user trials of the “very short range air defence system” (VSHORADS). Rosoboronexport, Saab and French firm MBDA competed in that tender.

On Thursday, Saab’s Asia-Pacific head Dean Rosenfield told the media in Bangkok: “We are evaluating the situation in the VSHORADS program and considering all the options, including a legal challenge.”

Sources close to Saab say the firm has not yet made a final decision to go to court. The company must consider the possible repercussions on Saab’s prospects in other tenders in India, including the Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) on-going, multi-billion dollar procurement of 114 fighter aircraft.

Global defence original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have been increasingly critical of the MoD’s procurement management. However, given their stakes in India – the world’s biggest arms customer – frustrations are mostly voiced off the record.

The heaviest criticism is reserved for the MoD’s insistence on evaluating weaponry on a “no-cost, no-commitment” (NCNC) basis. This stipulation, which is laid down in the defence procurement procedure (DPP), means that OEMs must pick up the bill for all costs they incur – transporting their products to India, fielding it in trials that are widely regarded as the most prolonged and intensive in the world, and the cost of maintaining equipment, crews and executive offices in India for the duration of the evaluation, very often over a decade.

“My company, like the others, spent over $50 million on the MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) contest. And at the end of it, what do we have? A handful of Rafale fighters bought and a fresh process initiated, on which will have to spend millions more,” says a senior executive in an aerospace OEM.

Since the turn of the century, the MoD initiated repeated contracts for 155 millimetre artillery guns. After repeated rounds of NCNC trials, involving several vendors, the procurement was finally shelved.

Similarly, the IAF carried out extensive trials for light utility helicopters. Eventually, Russian Helicopters, whose Kamov 226T had not participated in those trials, walked away with the contract.

Last year, the MoD abruptly cancelled the procurement of the short range surface to air missile (SRSAM) – a tender in which Saab and Israeli firm, Rafael, were competing. The MoD also cancelled the procurement of anti-tank guided missiles after Rafael’s Spike was chosen in extensive trials.

“So far, we have always returned to India, given the attractiveness of the market. But, at some stage, we would not be able to justify the expenditure to our boards. That will mean India will gradually have fewer options to choose from”, says a senior aerospace OEM executive.

The MoD has not responded to an email seeking comment.

It is not clear whether going to court would benefit Saab, since the government could cite national security to cloak the decision making that led to Rosoboronexport’s victory. In 2009, Italian electronics giant, Selex, petitioned the Delhi High Court against the award of a Rs 1,094 crore contract to Tata Power (Strategic Engineering Division) for modernising 30 IAF airfields. That went up to the Supreme Court, which rejected Selex’s plea in May 2010.

Saab’s letters to the MoD contain multiple allegations that Rosoboronexport’s Igla-S missile, which won the VSHORADS contract, shot down only two out of the six targets it engaged, before the MoD diluted the requirements to the Igla’s benefit.

Saab has also complained the Igla-S failed to turn up for summer trials on July 28, 2014 – for which the DPP mandates automatic and immediate disqualification.

Broadsword: Saab threatens MoD with legal action over Russia contract for VSHORADS
 
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“My company, like the others, spent over $50 million on the MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) contest. And at the end of it, what do we have? A handful of Rafale fighters bought and a fresh process initiated, on which will have to spend millions more,” says a senior executive in an aerospace OEM.


“So far, we have always returned to India, given the attractiveness of the market. But, at some stage, we would not be able to justify the expenditure to our boards. That will mean India will gradually have fewer options to choose from”, says a senior aerospace OEM executive.

This is true. Part of (if not the entirety) the reason why companies like FN Herstal ignored responding to the Army's RFIs for assault rifles/carbines after submitting proposals for multiple times before and never getting anywhere.
 
Similarly, the IAF carried out extensive trials for light utility helicopters. Eventually, Russian Helicopters, whose Kamov 226T had not participated in those trials, walked away with the contract.

He needs to do his research before putting this stuff up. The Ka-226T was shortlisted in the tender.
 
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