Too much civilian control in the name of democracy on military isn't good either.
Every Indian military project has civilian control and military can't do anything.
At least that doesn't happen in Pakistan.
Rafale DH/EH of Indian Air Force : News and Discussions
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Every Indian military project has civilian control and military can't do anything.
At least that doesn't happen in Pakistan.
And look where has that got you? Unless of course you think it's a positive development.
Delusion at its peak, their retd lt gen has a company worth billions in the US and this guy says okay thats good.....i think losing half of the land wasnt enough
BTW his point was valid. Our military procurement is managed by babus who don’t know difference between Rafale and Rafael.
We shouldn’t justify our shortcomings on the basis of their shortcomings.
In fact it’s true that most of the times , they manage to procure things pretty swiftly. Just look at their AWACS procurement and compare it with never ending juggling going on in IAF.
Even if they are broken and requesting every lender to waive off their loans, their navy is procuring new ships and submarine at an unprecedented speed.
Also look at their airforce, which is consistently add a basic BVR capable fighter since almost 5-6 years, at fairly good pace. Meanwhile IAF is still flying M21/23s, and our own LCA is stuck in politics between IAF and HAL. It took us 15 years to buy couple of dozen rafale.
I’ll not be surprised if thy get J20/J31 or whatever China has as a 5th gen fighter. ( I’m not going into the debate of wheathr they are true 5th gen which I highly doubt or just a F35 look a like)
We shouldn’t justify our shortcomings on the basis of their shortcomings.
In fact it’s true that most of the times , they manage to procure things pretty swiftly. Just look at their AWACS procurement and compare it with never ending juggling going on in IAF.
Even if they are broken and requesting every lender to waive off their loans, their navy is procuring new ships and submarine at an unprecedented speed.
Also look at their airforce, which is consistently add a basic BVR capable fighter since almost 5-6 years, at fairly good pace. Meanwhile IAF is still flying M21/23s, and our own LCA is stuck in politics between IAF and HAL. It took us 15 years to buy couple of dozen rafale.
I’ll not be surprised if thy get J20/J31 or whatever China has as a 5th gen fighter. ( I’m not going into the debate of wheathr they are true 5th gen which I highly doubt or just a F35 look a like)
Naaah. Need for more Mirages was felt as early as 2000 or so. There was a plan to induct more Mirages but the production line in France closed.
India is Pakistan inverse in that sense. And that is NOT necessarily a good thing. Military acquisition are often used as political tools by civilians in India often end up denying good equipment to Indian forces.
Case in point : Bofors. Bofors artillery acquisition and the scandal that went with it spooked Indian civilian leadership for quite sometime. Heck it is still used as a stick to beat political opponents. Due to this we are still suffering massive obsolescence in our artillery. It is noteworthy that most of the blame game of Bofors was in purely civilian space.
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Actually, IAF even as back as 2000 wanted more and more mirage 2000s. Needless to say, fear of being accused as corrupt delayed the acquision process to the point that mirage 2000 production lines were closed. Post that anything left was Rafale, a more expensive option.
Good that you say that.
If I am allowed to blow holes in the article, then...
As you've pointed out, Nirbhay is not ready yet. And the weapon system is different from the SCALP, since it's not as stealthy, even though SCALP is half to a third in range. SCALP is to the American JASSM as the Nirbhay is to the Tomahawk, so both serve different purposes. Nirbhay, or its definitive variant LRLACM, can be integrated on the Rafale.
Astra Mk1 is in no way comparable with Meteor. When it comes to range, the Meteor has 2x the range performance, maybe more, but definitely way more than the AIM-120D. Even the Astra Mk2 won't be its equivalent. Its only equivalent will be whatever comes out of the SFDR program, and that's years away.
Brahmos-M can be integrated on the Rafale. As can all other types of bombs and missiles that we use. The India-specific enhancements will come with the Litening G4 pod and SPICE from 2022 onwards. DRDO-developed quad-pack ejectors that can carry a variety of new generation bombs, like SAAW, and there's also the HSLD. An Israeli HMDS (Targo 2) and towed decoy (X-Guard) are also going to be part of the aircraft. So it's definitely not a closed architecture. The French will allow the integration of any weapon we want, including the ones coming up. Rafale uses the MIL-STD-1553B and STANAG 3910. The 3910 augments the low speed 1553B data bus with a high speed 20Mbps data bus and the mission computer called MDPU is built according to NATO standards.
I don't know how he got $400M for Rafale versus $60M for Mk1A, even though he clearly says the deal was $8B for 36 jets. Although the correct figure is $9B.
Lastly, believe it or not, the French have officially advertised the aircraft with both supercruise (with external payload) and LO/VLO capabilities. It can supercruise at mach 1.4 with 1 or 2 drop tanks and AAMs. Its passive localisation capabilties are accurate up to 0.1deg at 200Km, enough to launch BVR missiles without using radar or other sensors. SPECTRA will automatically engage any threat using the all-aspect MICA IR that comes within 15-20Km of the aircraft, even at the Rafale's six, paving the way for the introduction of anti-missile capabilities. And it has been officially revealed to have a frontal RCS similar to that of a sparrow.
So it's not a stretch to say the Rafale brings in true asymmetric capabilties.
Slightly optimistic but ... yep
The issue is, without the Rafale, we do not have anything else that can actually go deep inside China considering their advanced A2AD capabilities in Tibet.
As long as the Rafale can get in and get out and accomplish their mission in the process, we are covered on that front.
France did offer to sell the production line, transfer it to India; but this offer was not seized as it would have bypassed the tender.
All was offered for sale.
Dassault paid to scrap the M2000 line ! If they had the possibility to avoid that....
The main problem was, every time, that Indian top brass didn't decide. DA would have firmed a transfert of the line, keeping the possibility thanks to this indian line to offered the M2000 to some other customers after 2007...
It was a lose lose deal.
Indeed!
Heck, even recently M-2000 engine, M-53 ToT was offered. Devil knows where it went.
Better now than never. And numbers can be fixed ! It is a matter of political will. Rafale is the safest bet for Indian airforce. Its road map with F4 standard arriving soon is crystal clear, while other options are not.
"It is a matter of political will."
Indeed! Its a matter of political will!
That said, it does not make it simple, easier or trivial. It makes it super hard. Political will is the rarest element in Indian Government, Bureaucracy and even Military leadership.
Lemme say this : If India had one tenth of economy, one fifth of land, one fifth of population and one tenth of its military BUT had political will, we would have been controlling Entire J&K and Aksai Chin. If India had political will, we would have been as developed as Malaysia economically at the very least. If India had political will, well .... anything then.
The hardest was to ink the first batch. Now it is easier, specially when the tensions with pak and china are increasing.
The real option, I think, is : next batch, planes built in France or in India?
