Bharat Rakshak

sohels

Cain Marko wrote:^ so, that parkram chap was on the spot down to the nuts bolts saying statement will be given by junior mod official not mp...

Some of the articles (eg Hindu 12:43pm) appear to have been published before his junior official comment (6:03pm).

sohels

Stuff I stumbled upon on other forums: long day.. just reached home.. but straight to the PC to type good news... Deal is done.. final papers exchanged.. its officially 36 flyaway 90 make in India tranche 1 Final numbers would be 300 Rafales with 100+ Rafale Ms The original 36+18 follow on.. The fol...

sohels

F-35 may turn out to be a winner for the USAF, but does going for -ANY- major new import (with associated limitations on ToT) make sense for India? The IAF's current mix is potent, and even if several aging airframes are retired in due course, would continuous evolution and further intake of the Su-...

sohels

If half the Sukhoi fleet is sitting on the ground, and a Sukhoi costs half as much as a Rafale, wouldn't the Rafale fleet need at least 100% availability to be cost competitive with the Sukhois? #forgiveme

sohels

^Doesn't make sense. Per the Ajai Shukla article, MoD seems to be in favor of FGFA, IAF is not. Or do you mean the US is arm-twisting the IAF? I just don't see that happening, given lack of leverage.

sohels

I don't get why IAF would be willing to undermine the FGFA arrangement in favor of the Rafale for what appear to be less than convincing reasons. Is the numbers situation really that dire? Thoughts? http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/russia-can-t-deliver-on-fifth-generation-figh...

sohels

Aditya G wrote:
Austin wrote:Time to halt our weapons binge
It is like reading an entry from a school essay competition. All correct and perfect but just plain boring $hit

Ouch! As in excessively polite, or have I missed an important aspect of the issue? Always eager to learn!

sohels

Xi's War Drums - foreignpolicy.com

China's new leader is using the military to consolidate his power. But has he unleashed forces beyond his control?

sohels

Hello, I have a blog with TOI. I was looking to expand the discussion in the media to look at a broader spectrum of possible responses, and came up with this satire. It is along the lines of whats going on in the South China Sea - neither conventional nor quite covert, but sort of like a bad-humored...

sohels

French Rafale UAE deal back on-report - Reuters Speaking after the India announcement, French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet hinted there could be more deals ahead. "Good news are like worries, they fly in squadrons," he said. "That (deal) is the start of a squadron of good news.&qu...

sohels

Art of deal-making - Bharat Karnad A senior official of an US aerospace major castigate(d) both the US government for imposing a ceiling on the level of technologies that could be sold to India, and the Indian government for quietly accepting these limits instead of forcefully using the “leverage” ...

sohels

MMS is an American nationalist. His 'pacifism' is relevant only when he wants India to not resist American aggression in its neighhbourhood. IOW, his pacifism is directed towards pakistan because this helps USA. And his desire to arm India (against China) is also in line with American policy to mak...

sohels

asprinzl wrote:MMS is said to be deadly serious about matching Chinese power.

This contradicts his pacifist proclivity. If true, it would be very interesting to know as to what exactly prompted this change of heart.

sohels

True. But when it comes to this tender, is the apparent lack of a larger strategy deceit, or actuality? Predetermined procedural mechanics justify our chosen course of action; current geopolitics argue against it. The strategy could be to bypass criticism/delays from internal enemies on the payroll...

sohels

^Very unfortunate, for war is but an extension of policy by other means. But sir, war also means subterfuge and deception. So even if there is favouritism no one is going to admit it up front.No? True. But when it comes to this tender, is the apparent lack of a larger strategy deceit, or actuality?...

sohels

^Very unfortunate, for war is but an extension of policy by other means.

sohels

Not to mention that I believe that at most in 5 years, but probably much, much, sooner, the Europeans (all of them) will start selling arms to China... If the F35 is as good as its specs suggest it to be, it makes infinitely more sense to spend $20 Billion on it. Yes! I said the same earlier in the...

sohels

Singha wrote:one q: can khan offer CTOL JSF @ $80 mil unit price for delivery starting 2015?

I dont think they can meet either the price or delivery of the two e-canards.

Have you been following the news? The bids could be around twice that figure.

sohels

According to this http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3918&Itemid=174 The MMRCA cost has ballooned to $20 bn which works out to some ~$175MM per plane? Wow. I assumed the $20b figure was for 200 planes. So it could be 350-400 (@$50-60m) Gripens vs 126 R...

sohels

All the talk about the Rafale only being marginally cheaper is irrelevant as it still makes it L1 ...The French are smart enough to understand that they don't have to give us unbelievable prices for the Rafale, just prices better than the British and Germans gave us for the Typhoon. How are the Fre...

sohels

That there is very little specificity in the news about the per unit cost of the two planes is alarming. As has been pointed out earlier, Dassault seems to have turned in a much higher than anticipated bid that only marginally undercuts the EF. Collusion/cartelization, if suspected, must be investig...

sohels

The next month should bring greater clarity on the economic crisis in Europe, and on China's role in the same. This further delay could thus be desirable.

sohels

So since detailed calculations seem to be required, does this mean the two bids are within 15% of each other? That seems surprising given that the price one sees for the Rafale is usually much lower than EF.

sohels

@ sohels E. Ohh please..... The chinese do not have money lying around to lift the Euro out of its debt-hole. And don’t tell me that China has this Himalayan mountain of reserves that it will employ to save the world or buy out Europe. It is not as if China has this trillion dollar reserve in fixed...

sohels

There are other things with India which special interest groups inside US want to get in These special interest group want to create a psy ops with the'certain' (poorer) population of India about US power and omni presence. This will give advantage to several other groups who want to penetrate Indi...

sohels

It is about geo politics. Speaking of geopolitics: Europe's High Price for China's Friendship An end to a 22-year-old European embargo on arms sales to China, in place since the Tiananmen bloodshed of 1989, might seem like a more distant possibility. But Europe's once strident criticism of China's ...

sohels

Here's the actual U.S. Department of Defense report: Report to Congress on U.S.-India Security Cooperation Our efforts over the past ten years have focused on relationship-building and establishing the foundation for a long-term partnership. The strong ties between our two militaries reflect this. T...

sohels

RAF Typhoon leads the race to secure £7 billion arms deal The "flawless" performance of the Eurofighter Typhoon in the Libyan war has catapulted the aircraft ahead of its main rival to win one of the most lucrative of defence deals in recent times. ... The Typhoon was already leading the ...

sohels

Well, unless they (France or the EF group) eat the development cost in the MMRCA and they throw in the 'ToT' and the offset, you're looking at $100MM+ per Rafale or EF. For 189 (126+63 options), you're talking ~$20 billion. You can be sure that when this number hits the media, that LM and Boeing ar...

sohels

^Yes, here are the relevant charts: Euro vs Swiss franc: http://www.ecb.int/stats/exchange/eurofxref/html/eurofxref-graph-chf.en.html Euro vs Indian rupee: http://www.ecb.int/stats/exchange/eurofxref/html/eurofxref-graph-inr.en.html If you compare the trends over the last year, the Euro has fallen b...

sohels

Other day I passed comments on the vulneribility of Euro's and leverage India can get. Then subsequently recd a release from BNP Paribas ( BNP Paribas defends eurozone and France on ratings ). The impression is that Erozone is safe. I do not want to dispute that. However, the place is not as strong...

sohels

At this stage, the US has been downgraded to AA+ with negative outlook (it means it can be downgraded again in the months to come), France and Germany are still AAA with positive outlook (it means they will not be downgraded in the year to come) and UK is AAA with negative outlook. The next country...

sohels

Cosmo_R wrote:Hope it works out better.

^Define 'better' - what would be the best case scenario regarding the outcome of this tender, in your opinion?

sohels

Buying more Russian planes cannot be the answer - diversification is one of the primary objectives of this tender. If above all else, we really needed these jets quickly and affordably, the Super Hornet would have been the one to go for. But since we did not do so, I guess the urgency is perhaps exa...

sohels

As early as March 4, 2011, with the situation in Libya deteriorating, French military aircraft began to carry out surveillance and electronic warfare missions over the Mediterranean, alongside those of the US and UK . It is well known that the french Rafales were the first fighters flying over Liby...

sohels

If you take the high-end figure, assuming Euro 1 bn for support/training/infra, it is closer to US$156 mn/plane (Euro 7 bn for 63 planes)! That deal, if signed, will ensure smooth sailing through our benchmarking process? But given that the flyaway cost of the super hornet is ~$55 mil, or around $8...

sohels

^Yes, outdated info indeed I'm afraid. The question of JSF has already been explored by the IAF and the answer is no! But there's been no effort to explain why this is so, or to get a better deal: “ We have already entered into a partnership with Russia in developing our own fifth generation fighter...

sohels

As stated several times by Indian officials, IAF will not go for F-35 and the choice is clearly between Rafale and Typhoon. JSF is in big troubles for the moment and we don't know much about its real capabilities. Even the brits don't have acces to ToT with the F-35, it would be the less relevant c...

sohels

^ I'd like to read about the issues that you mention. I've read Carlo Kopp's analysis, but can you please post some other links? Incidentally, he puts the Rafale and Typhoon in the same 'low capability' category as the JSF: http://www.ausairpower.net/F-22A-Size-Comparison-4.png And relax guys, we al...

sohels

Well why dont they recognize and address our concern and give us operational autonomy as others do , after all the Europeans would be as concerned about technology proliferation as US does but dont bind us to specific or binding agreements ? Fair no ? Yes, fair. And it seems to me that they're begi...

Search found 74 matches