The Indian Air Force has opted for Dassault’s Rafale fighter jet to fulfill its multi-billion dollar contract. It’s a major blow to the Eurofighter.
It’s taken nearly a decade to get there, but India this week confirmed that it has selected the Dassault Rafale to fulfill its medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA) requirement. For the beaten finalist, the Eurofighter Typhoon, co-built by Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K., second is as good as nowhere (although until contracts are formally signed, Eurofighter’s cause isn’t entirely lost).
India will now acquire 126 Dassault aircraft, though a fleet of around 190 Indian Air Force (IAF) Rafales could eventually be assembled. The ultimate value of the deal could be two to three times higher than the initial $10 billion to $11 billion outlay once 30 to 40 years of through-life support, and extra planes, are factored in.
The face-off between the French Rafale and the part-British Typhoon has been an intriguing subplot to the wider saga of European disharmony, with relations between Paris and London becoming increasingly acrimonious against the backdrop of Europe’s economic malaise.
Both governments badly needed the Indian fighter deal as a rare piece of economic good news, especially with defense sector jobs already being shed and others still vulnerable. India’s decision will give Paris something to trumpet, while severely stinging the British and its Eurofighter partner nations.
The stakes for the companies concerned – Dassault and the Eurofighter consortium, a partnership of BAE Systems (U.K.), EADS (Germany and Spain) and Alenia Aeronautica (Italy) – could hardly have been higher. Momentum is critical for these big defense programs, and both aircraft looked in danger of losing theirs, not just in India but in other markets besides. The Rafale is chasing orders in Brazil, Kuwait and the U.A.E; but the plane’s prospects in all three markets appeared to worsen in 2011, and an Indian rebuttal would have only deterred those potential buyers from placing their faith in the French jet. Indeed, it was looking like the Rafale might fail to secure any exports at all, calling into question the standalone future of the French defense aerospace sector. But now, Dassault has scooped the biggest contract of all.
For Eurofighter, the prospects had been looking somewhat brighter. Following export orders from Austria and Saudi Arabia, the Typhoon is also in the running in Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. But the aircraft has now suffered two serious knock-backs within the space of as many months. In December, Japan rejected the Typhoon in favor of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. But nobody seriously expected the European company to win the Japanese contest – which is why the loss in India, where Eurofighter had been tipped by many analysts as the favorite, will be so much more demoralizing.
As for the Indian Air Force (IAF), it can now look forward to adding a highly capable aircraft to its ranks. Some critics of the whole MMRCA process have complained that by the time the winning plane enters Indian service (from 2016 onwards) it will already be outdated, with stealthy Chinese, Russian and U.S. jets all coming online by then. But that’s a short-sighted argument. When the IAF inducts the Rafale, it will be the best aircraft at its disposal; it will also be a match for anything its two main strategic rivals, China and Pakistan, are able to field at that time, and therefore an effective deterrent (the likelihood of China’s experimental J-20 stealth fighter being an in-service production aircraft by then seems low, while the jury is still out on whether Russia’s T-50/PAK-FA will offer true stealth capability). Crucially, the Rafale offering brings with it the level of technology transfer that India’s defense industry so badly needs.
The IAF’s history with French aircraft no doubt worked in the Rafale’s favor. The service already flies the Mirage – an aircraft IAF officers are known to like – and decided in July to go ahead with a major $2.4bn upgrade program for its Mirage fleet. Some analysts speculated that the Mirage upgrade deal might have been a consolation prize for the French ahead of failure in the MMRCA deal, but that turned out not to be so.
The IAF can now also devote more energy to the evaluation of three other programs that are also critical to its future capability: the developmental F-35; the Russian T-50/PAK-FA project, in which India is already a junior partner; and the indigenous medium combat aircraft (MCA) program, which remains on the drawing board (designs, due by the end of 2011, have yet to materialize). While the procurement of one, two or perhaps even all three of these aircraft will have a great bearing on the IAF’s long-term future, today’s announcement marks an important milestone in Indian defense. It is also a new lease on life for the Dassault Rafale, and a hammer blow for Eurofighter.
Photo Credit: Armée de l'air française
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Bwest
Loving how so many people are talking about weapons systems that they have only seen on Wikipedia, seems legit.
SpikeHades
This shows how ungrateful India is to the U.K. The U.k gives more than 1 billions sterling to India in aid every year, we allow thousands of Indians to work in the U.k and send remittances home. So many o our companies employ Indians in India and yet when the Indians have an opportunity to show their appreciation they slap the U.K in the face. I hope the U.K an Europe come to an accommodation with China, I for one would be happy Chinese Eurofighters Knock Indian Rafales out of the sky.
Amandeep Singh
An Indian company is the single biggest employer in the UK. The largest contributors and buyers of expensive real estate are Indias. Not to mention the 250,000 indians dead in the 2nd world war, fighting for the british, when they should have been fighting the British. Stop crying, British Empire is long dead and even a dead snake is more trust worthy then the Brits.
Marcus
Agreed Aman and thanks for bringing things into perspective. Many Indians migrated to the UK even before the Queen decided to finally peek out of her bogs called Buckingham Palace. Whatever Indians have achieved there they have done so using their own merit, grit and perseverance and of course with the help of Brits who are humans and not people like the person above who deride and classify this phenomenon as Brits giving opportunity to Indians rather than humans helping one another. This is the reason why the UK has been blacklisted, at least in principle by many countries when it comes to defense deals or tech transfer in other areas like bio-tech, medical research, nuclear medicine, robotics etc.
When a person from England comes up to you and and says, " Hello sir! How are you doing today?", you know that's a human being but, when anyone Brit or otherwise tells you,"You eat your bread and butter because we 'the Brits' allowed you to do so", that's pure old cockney trash mentality. Its people like these who end up provoking skinheads smearing doors of other nationalities with derogatory quotes.
SpikeHades- You sir are living under a huge crock of shite! It's because of India that Tony Blair and even Margaret Thatcher could save face in the UNSC and Mrs. Thatcher was at least grateful about it. You gave us financial aid and we have been giving you diplomatic support in world politics therefore, its only quid pro quo really. Need a dictionary to understand what that means 'laddie'?? Humbug!
Girish
@SpikeHades
You are completely flawed in your analysis. First of all, UK does not give aid to India to secure favours in defence projects. Also it is childish if someone thinks in UK that India will provide billion dollar deals to UK for its 255 million dollor annual aid to India and also undermine its own interest of national defense. That deal was a competitive bid and UK failed in it. Its as simple to understand as it looks.
Also, I agree UK allow Indians to work but do you understand that Indian are amount the most educated and peaceful people in UK? and have immense contribution to its economy?
Have you even Looked at the FDI inverter list of UK? India invest hugely in UK (so you better thanks us)
You are fool if you believe UK can sustain its economy without Indian workers( for that matter all foreign workers)
Inviting foreign works is not a charity plan of UK but a survival plan.
Also, Indians are one of the riches ethnic group in UK (average income is much above then national income) thus they are providing good amount of tax to the government.
Also, We never forget that the money with which you developed your industrial revolution was from INDIA which you looted for 300 years. Will you mind returning all that before even opening your mouth?
UK and India have common interests and values and we need to be partner to secure it for better future. BUT PLEASE mind that WE take independent decisions and UK cannot influence India. Not to forget in next 5 years, India economy will be bigger then UK itself (in absolute terms). UK need India as much as we need everyone.
And what did you said? provide those planes to China?
well your government know what does that means to them. China will love to buy any western tech but its the WEST which doesn;t want to sale and there are some valid reason behind them. Thus Chinese have no option but to steal those tech from foolish Wests.
Marcus
Couldn't have put it better myself Girish. Well said
Mazo
A rather ugly comment if there ever was one. The UK does “nothing” special for Indians or Indian companies working the UK that it doesn’t do for any other country’s companies. Most of the Indian companies are responsible for maintaining thousands of jobs in Britain. Indians are the single greatest source of high tech and highly skilled workforce yet there are numerous road blocks placed against Indian students, Indian workers and Indian companies specifically targeting them and making it harder for them.
The idea that aid should be used to “buy” favor reeks of an imperialist mindset really. Plus, this is aid that is not given to the Indian government but rather given to specific NGOs that are favored by the British like Oxfam etc – in turn actually employing British nationals and sourcing equipment from British companies.
Showing appreciation and national imperatives need not be mutually exclusive but in terms of the MRCA deal, the Eurofighter consortium may yet prevail in getting a contract. However, letting “aid” determine the winner would be doing the same thing the Indian government is already accused of – being corrupt and employing favoritism.
Siddharth
To be precise the British aid is only 280 million pounds and moreover India is planning to stop taking aid from the UK as India has become self-sufficient!
Siddharth
Plus, India is the largest investor in the UK!
Spikehades
Lets address these falsehoods one at a time.
1. The USA is the biggest FDI contributor to the uk not India.
2. An Indian company is not the biggest employer in the UK
3. UK aid to India is more than $400 milliion.
4.Indians did not only fight for Britain in WW2 they fought for themselves also. I wonder what would have happened had the Imperial Japanese Army had marched to Calcutta.
5.”rich Indians in the U.K” are British not Indian.
6. We have enough I.T talent of our own it’s just that Indian staff are cheaper and gredy corporations exploit them in the name of profit.
7. Britain did not loot “India”. India has never been a unified nation until 1947.
8. Europe would love to sell weapons to China. Unfortunately the U.S does not allow the embargo in place since Tiananmen Square to be lifted.
Both India and China will never forgive the west for their Colonial past. It is my view that we the UK should trade. With both but ally with none. Neither country Canberra relied upon as this fighter contract makes clear.
Mazo
It’s strange to address “falsehood” with half truths!
1. The USA is the biggest FDI contributor to the UK but also to India and is also one of India’s largest trade partners.
2. The biggest employer in Britain is the British government but Indian companies or British companies owned by Indians employ more than 100,000 people easily from Tetley Tea, to British steel to JLR to dozens of other smaller companies.
3. Yes $400 million USD but not even 1 cent of which is given to the Indian government or can be utilized at the discretion of the Indian taxpayer’s mandate. This aid is given to NGOs favored by the British and most of this “aid” is merely “credit” to source British equipment and services!
4. In WW2 both Hitler and the Japanese supported the Indian Freedom Movement. During WW2 Gandhi ceased all independence protests and agitations at the behest of the British Government because the British needed Indian troops and resources to fight its wars. Indians had no bone in WW2 as neither Japan nor Germany were interested in the conquest of India as India was equally equidistant from both nations but Indians soldiers were often left behind to the Japanese who used thousands of Indians POWs as laborers and many more Indian POWs died than British to the Japanese. More than 2-3 million Indian soldiers fought for the British in almost all theaters, particularly in Africa. Indian soldiers were also used in WW1 and for most of the conquest of the Middle East, Africa and even during the failed invasion of the Ottoman Empire.
5. “rich Indians in the UK are British not Indian” – not true. Laxmi Mittal holds an Indian passport and is the richest person in Britain. Many Indians living in the UK have Indian passports and India does not allow dual citizenship!
6. Britain doesn’t have enough IT talent, if it did companies like APPLE, GOOGLE etc would be British not American! Plus, IT talent is outsourced to India because British workers are under skilled and overpaid. For British companies to be competitive and basically not go under they need to offshore jobs –including highly technical positions because Indians have a better work ethic and are cheaper to hire.
7. While it is true the word “India” is a Latin name – the Indian subcontinent has been united under a single rule many times before. The mighty Mauryan Empire stretched from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka, while the Mughal empire also united more than 90% of the Indian subcontinent under the reign of Akbar the Great. The British Raj was mostly swindling and extortion racket that the British carried out by fleecing petty kings and rulers to pay up or have their lands annexed. There might not have been an “India” to loot but the British sure looted the “Indians”.
8. Europe also loved Hitler – the judgments of Europeans are purely mercantilist and everybody knows this! The Europeans can’t sell any technology that the Americans gave you – that would make most of your defense goods. Even the Eurofighter Typhoon has extensive American technology and components that would be subject to American whims, while the Rafale has technology derived from American technology and would be less restrictive. This is why the world likes the Americans more than the Europeans even though they start wars and are pure capitalists – they stick by their principles and they do not have false arrogance like the Europeans.
You are right that neither China nor India will ever forget or forgive the Europeans for their colonial past but do not confuse the “West” with Europe because the West contains the US, Canada, etc who had no part in your plundering and they are not subject to the same scale Europe is held to. Asians have a concept of Karma, perhaps you are reaping exactly what you have sown, as the wheel turns!
Truthsayer
It is idiotic to say that Britain did not loot India ,when the British first came India ,India was contributing upto 17% of the world's output and when the British left India was contributing 2% of the world's output.(British empire in India was a project of economic exploitation)
Listen to David Malone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3-FPdZii3k
Shine
Spikehades, you do realize 400 million is chump change, right? The Indian economy *grows* by roughly that amount in a single day. Your increasingly irrelevant little island should get over itself.
Major Lowen Gil Marquez, Phil Army
Great for the India Air force for having a Rafale fighting airships that will add their air capability in their military inventory, they can maintain the momentum of offense and defense in any weather and terrain condition at any level of threat against their sovereignty, they can help their allies now against any hostile action to be initiated by the bullying larger nation in their neighborhood.
Faraway
In terms of meeting the challenges IAF might face from the Pakistani or Chinese air forces, the Rafale is more than adequate. The integration of the Thales AESA radar and newest weapons suite gives it a combat edge over China’s indigenous 4th generation fighters (J-10/J-11). India’s history of defence cooperation with the Soviet Union during the Cold War and Russia’s concern about China’s long-term strategic intentions mean that Moscow will continue to cooperate with India on more advanced fighter aircraft, whether through sales or co-development. The advantage that China has is its ability to develop new combat aircraft on its own. India has pockets of high technology expertise and competence, but overall, China’s industrial base is more advanced and improving continually. The end result is that India will remain more reliant on its partners for combat aircraft, some of whom may prove less than reliable.
The F-35 is far and away the most capable fighter available on the export market – to countries the U.S. is willing to sell to, that is (so far I believe Australia, U.K., Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Turkey, Singapore, Canada, and now Japan will buy them.)India is likely averse to the price tag and might have some political reservations. The Rafale is the right combination of cost to strings attached and is not a bad choice. If all U.S. defence partners in East Asia were to operate the same 5th generation fighter, this would make interoperability much easier. I’m sure South Korea is considering the F-35 and Taiwan probably would like to buy several hundred if the U.S. were willing to torpedo its relations with China in order to sell them.
skeptical_observer
it’s retarded to say that the Rafale will be the best aircraft at it’s disposal.. when the Indians themselves say that it will fit somewhere between their Tejas and the Su 30 MKIs….
fleabyte
Rafale’s electronic suit, it’s AESA radar and air to ground capabilities will render it THE most advanced aircraft in the subcontinent.
Add in to the mix the link-16 connectivity and it’s substantially lower RCS compared with the Sukhois and Pakistan’s F-16s and you understand why it is going to be a balance altering platform.
Subho
IAF stated that because it is a medium weight fighter that will fit between light class jet tejas and heavy class jet su-30.also comparing su-30 mki and rafale is wrong,as both fighter was built for different purpose.