India buys French Fighters

[fatmal]

The Indian Airforce (IAF) have signed a deal for 126 Rafale fighters in preference to the eurofighter or anything American (see http://the-diplomat.com/2012/02/05/indian-military-goes-french/) to compliment their existing SU-30's. They are also designing/building their own fighters, in a joint venture with the Russians.

 

Price and availability of spares and continuing support seems to have been a driving factor, given the major powers history of expensive and late aircraft. Lots of good discussion on the subject at http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/02/05/0058213/india-turns-down-american-fighter-jets-buys-from-france

 

Mal

 

 

[Planechaser]

And it is not offen that the French will pull the rug out and stop selling arms to someone.

 

They may not have the very best gear, but they are reportedly a very reliable supplier, even under international pressure.

 

Also not much point them buying the very best if it won't handle the conditions they want them to opperate in or they struggle to keep them airworthy. I am thinking here of Landrover 4x4's here; the most able 4x4 on the planet, if only you can keep them running.

 

 

[fatmal]

And it is not offen that the French will pull the rug out and stop selling arms to someone.They may not have the very best gear, but they are reportedly a very reliable supplier, even under international pressure.

Dunno about that - from the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War).

 

"An important factor was military support. The USA provided the United Kingdom with military equipment ranging from submarine detectors to the latest missiles.[27][28][29][30] France provided dissimilar aircraft training so Harrier pilots could train against the French aircraft used by Argentina.[31] French and British intelligence also worked to prevent Argentina from obtaining more Exocets on the international market.[32]Chile gave support to Britain in the form of Intelligence about Argentine military and radar early warning."

 

Those Exocet missiles are a great weapon, but if you can't get more of them, you'll soon be out of the war business.

 

Maybe India (and Aus?) would be better off buying military hardware from a more disreputable supplier, after all, war is a disreputable business - that way you're unlikely to be cut-off if you annoy your masters. Our closest (big) neighbor Indonesia has 110 combat aircraft, including su-27's & su-30's ($35-$45M each (su-30)), and the RAAF has 95 FA-18/Super Hornets (at $55M each (Super Hornet)). If we annoy the US in any way (unlikely I know, given our craven attitude to the US), then we may be in the same situation as the Argentinians. Even our US-sourced aircraft are unlikely to have have the latest in avionics/weapons systems.

 

 

[nong]

The americans, no matter how much we lick their bootstraps, have no modern and competitive fighter airframe to offer. We need to canvas other options.

 

Successive Australian leadership groups have abandoned their prime defence responsibility, which is to organise and equip for continental defence.

 

We had the best fast, long legged bomb truck in the region.......so we lined them up and pushed dirt over them.

 

We had an irreplaceable tactical airlifter that used the wrong fuel. Naturally we re-engined and crack inspected the airframes, right? Wrong....!

 

We built an A-10 Warthog style aircraft to provide air support to ground and coastal operations, didn't we? Oops.

 

We have forgotten the lesson of WW2. The lesson is: BE PREPARED.