Rafale DH/EH of Indian Air Force : News and Discussions

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RADAR RBE2 / AESA: SUSTAINED PRODUCTION

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The most powerful on-board radar ever produced in France for a fighter jet, the Thales Active Aerial RBE2 (AESA) represents the best in Europe, with the Selex Consortium's Captor-E, a radar still in the pipeline. evaluation for new versions of the Eurofighter.

The AESA RBE2, a multi-target multi-target radar that is very agile and has increased range, capable of operating in a nominal manner even in degraded mode, is now produced at the rate of two copies per month, in order to honor Rafale's export orders up to in 2020, 84 aircraft. To date, more than sixty of these radars remain to be supplied to Dassault Aviation for mounting on the Rafale EM and DM Egyptian (12 aircraft delivered on 24 ordered), Rafale EQ and DQ Qatar (24 aircraft to be delivered before end 2019, two of which have already been finalized) and the Rafale EH and Indian DH (36 ordered aircraft deliverable as of 2019).

Identical to the Rafale F3, the most recent in service in France (known as F3R), the Rafale export are of a standard adapted to the specifications of the customer. If the Egyptian Rafale is identical to the French F3 of the last slots, the planes for Qatar will be equipped with Lockheed Martin's Sniper designation pod and Elbit's D-Dash Israeli helmet sight. The planes for India from Rafael's Pod Litening and the Israeli Spice 250 guided bomb, in place of the AASM. The Rafale thus remains a platform open to equipment that is absent in its panoply "made in France", such as the helmet viewfinder (HMD), which is a glaring lack of user opinion.

Let's not forget that France has ordered 180 Rafale, of which 148 have been delivered: 48 C and 54 B for the Air Force and 46 M for the Navy. The order for a fourth slice of fighters is expected in the coming years to reach 225 Rafale, the latest format defined by the 2013 White Paper. The additional 45 Rafale to allow the transformation of two fighter squadrons still on Mirage 2000 and to compensate for attrition until 2040 or 2050. In order to equip these aircraft, more than 130 RBE2 / PESA radars were delivered to equip the first generation of Rafale (F1, F2 and F3). that is to say, most of the aircraft ordered by France for twenty years.

The latest Rafale put into service (C / B / M) were equipped with the RBE2 / AESA radar, ie 32 aircraft, including eight Rafale M. The remaining 28 AESA radars will not be delivered by Thales to Dassault before 2020-2021, when will resume deliveries of Rafale to the Air Force and the Navy.Subsequently, all French aircraft in Unit 4 will receive AESA radars with new IFF antennas and thus the French Rafale fleet will eventually be split between PESA and AESA equipped aircraft. In total, Thales is expected to produce around 150 RBE2 / EASA.

Note that the oldest aircraft have now almost all been upgraded to the F3 standard. The F4 standard is already planned and should treat all obsolescences from 2025, while bringing new features, including Thales' Talios (formerly Damocles NG) nacelle with HDTV video capabilities and daylight coverage. -night about 40 nautical.

For the Rafale F4 RBE2 / AESA radar, we can mention in bulk the introduction of new tiled antennas, increased compactness and the introduction of new generation hardened components based on gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon. germanium (SiGe) with increased reliability. Will remain to decide the issue of the helmet visor for French pilots. Thales is ready with "Scorpion", based on HObIT's opto-inertial hybrid posture detection technology. This helmet has the particularity of being interchangeable between pilots, which will help reduce the number of equipment needed for each fleet.

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Egypt's defence minister Sobhi, French counterpart Parly inaugurate Rafale training centre
Ahmed Elieba , Saturday 16 Dec 2017

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French minister of defense Florence Parly and Egyptian minister of defense Sedky Sobhy (Photo: Egyptian armed forces)
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Egypt's defence minister Sedky Sobhy and his French counterpart Florence Parly inaugurated on Saturday a training centre for piloting Rafale fighter jets at an Egyptian airbase, the Egyptian Armed Forces announced in a statement.

Sobhy and Parly held talks in Cairo at the Ministry of Defence headquarters, where they spoke about recent developments in the Middle East and cooperation between Egypt and France in defence and industry, as well as the exchange of expertise and training.

The meeting was attended by Egyptian army chief-of-staff Mohamed Farid Hegazy.

In 2015, Egypt signed a deal to acquire 24 Dassault Rafale fighter jets from France, of which it has received 11.

The tour by the two ministers at the airbase was attended by Egyptian air force commander Younes El-Masry as well as a number of Egyptian military officials and a French delegation accompanying Parly.

Earlier on Saturday, Parly met with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, where they discussed boosting military cooperation.

Egypt has made several purchases of French military hardware in recent years, the most recent of which was a Gowind 2500 Corvette naval vessel, which arrived in Alexandria in October.

The vessel is one of four such models purchased by Egypt in a deal signed in 2014.

Egypt's defence minister Sobhi, French counterpart Parly inaugurate Rafale training centre - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online
 
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Rafale fighters to have deadly Meteor missiles, to improve India's air superiority

Meteor missiles have a whopping 100 kilometer range. It will be an asset for Indian Air Force.


The much awaited Rafale fighter aircraft will be a major boost to India's firepower as the fighters will come fitted with Meteor and Mica missiles from Europe.

These missiles will give immense advantage to Rafale fighter aircraft as these are 'beyond visual range' weapons. In simpler terms, the pilot of the fighter plane will be able to target enemy plane even if he cannot physically see the enemy craft.


The range of meteor and mica missile is exceptionally long at 100 kilometers. This will give a comprehensive edge to these planes in combat situations.

The Rafale fighters will come along with Meteor Mica missiles under the Rs 59,800 crore deal which will give Indian Air Force aerial superiority in case of launching air campaigns against enemy ground targets and will also suppress their air defence planes as well.

The deal is facing questions from the Congress which had declared Rafale as the L-1 bidder in 2012 and contract negotiations had begun with its manufacturer Dassault Aviation that year.

Contract negotiations remained incomplete even after 2 years in 2014 due to a lack of agreement on various terms of RFP compliance and cost related issues.

There was no deal under the UPA Government. Transfer of Technology remained the primary issue of concern between the two sides. Dassault Aviation was also not willing to take the responsibility of quality control of production of 108 aircraft in India. While Dassault provisioned for 3 crore man hours for production of the aircraft in India, HAL's estimate was nearly 3 times higher, escalating costs manifold.

As per comparisons drawn between the two deals based on the cost of flyaway condition planes, the NDA deal is coming out to be cheaper by Rs 12,000 crore.

The Air Force is sending teams of its pilots and technicians to a French air base to train on the Rafales that will start arriving in early 2019.

Rafale fighters to have deadly Meteor missiles, to improve Indias air superiority
 
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Agreement with France for supply of Rafale Fighter Jets

An Inter-Governmental Agreement was signed on 23rd September, 2016 between the Government of India and French Republic for the procurement of 36 Rafale aircraft including weapons, long term maintenance support, simulators along with 10 years of annual maintenance and associated equipment.

The Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) proposal was for procurement of 126 aircraft in which 18 aircraft were direct fly-away aircraft and 108 aircraft were to be License Manufactured in India. In the present procurement, 36 Rafale aircraft are being procured in direct fly-away condition under Inter-Governmental Agreement between the Government of India and French Republic. In the IGA, better terms have been achieved in terms of better pricing, better maintenance terms and better delivery schedule.

This information was given by Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply to Shri Mohd. Ali Khan in Rajya Sabha today.

Agreement with France for supply of Rafale Fighter Jets
 
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Important snippets

the brevity of answers in parliament can be fun to read.
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"No Transfer of Technology (ToT) in Rafale deal but of 50% offsets retained. Delivery schedule, maintenance arrangement and product support are more beneficial" - @DefenceMinIndia

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman confirms both Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon were found fully compliant. Rafale purchased with inter governmental agreement.
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Defence Minister @nsitharaman categorically denies any committee being set up for pay and rank parity in the military.
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"No Transfer of Technology (ToT) in Rafale deal but of 50% offsets retained. Delivery schedule, maintenance arrangement and product support are more beneficial" - @DefenceMinIndia

"36 Rafale procured in direct fly-away condition to meet operational necessity . There is no increase in the cost. Instead, a better price has been ensured," - @DefenceMinIndia in Rajya Sabha reply.

credits: @manupubby
 
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Yes but still forgot how things are planned. The original report post the deal sign also consisted the following. Credit to E&Y .


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What are those products. Please find below

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and more

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and KAVERI

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[MK1A deadline is 2020 - said in the other thread]

and MBDA

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Refer to the MBDA tech being available for Indian Astra and other missiles.

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[Sorry for big images]
 
Yes but still forgot how things are planned. The original report post the deal sign also consisted the following. Credit to E&Y .


View attachment 602

What are those products. Please
View attachment 603

View attachment 604

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and KAVERI

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[MK1A deadline is 2020 - said in the other thread]

and MBDA

View attachment 608
Refer to the MBDA tech being a]

Can we assume Kaveri will be integrated and certified in Tejas by 2020 ?
So all Tejas made after 2020 will be of mk1A status with Kaveri engine .

Meanwhile mk2 will be housing GEF414 engines ?
 
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Can we assume Kaveri will be integrated and certified in Tejas by 2020 ?
So all Tejas made after 2020 will be of mk1A status with Kaveri engine .

Meanwhile mk2 will be housing GEF414 engines ?

Kaveri integration needs to be seen..even if a test prototype is available, it would be good..

If Snecma Safran get airworthy certification done then it will be even better..

I believe a Safaranised Kaveri powered LCAMk1A should be available post 2022 with almost all certifications for sure.

Regarding future Tejas iterations, once Safranised Kaveri is available, I doubt we will look at Ge 414 for future versions.. it will be using better versions of Kaveri Family of engines only..
 
Kaveri integration needs to be seen..even if a test prototype is available, it would be good..

If Snecma Safran get airworthy certification done then it will be even better..

I believe a Safaranised Kaveri powered LCAMk1A should be available post 2022 with almost all certifications for sure.

Regarding future Tejas iterations, once Safranised Kaveri is available, I doubt we will look at Ge 414 for future versions.. it will be using better versions of Kaveri Family of engines only..

Even at 10 aircrafts per year instead of 8+3 = 11 , FOC 20 will get over by 2020.

So btw 2020-2022 are we going make another squad of FOC blocks with fresh orders of engines or engines from TD & LSP s ?

Deadline set for Mk1A is 2020 , so the minimum time that's possible is 2020 and max 2022 ?
 
France promises 20 billion compensation to Belgium, if it buys its Rafale fighter plane

France offers 20 billion euros in compensation if Belgium buys the Rafale from the French manufacturer Dassault.

France has already promised a “strategic and economic partnership” if the Belgian federal government chooses the Rafale and not the competitors F-35 and Eurofighter to replace the F-16s. Paris, and Dassault Aviation have since worked on a concrete proposal to seduce the Belgian government.

Paris seemed to be out of play by not respecting the procedure set up by the federal government to replace fighter jets. However it appears that, as of now, that the French government and Dassault are not adhering to the procedure, as they are seeking to offer more economic compensation to Belgian industry than is feasible within the framework originally established by the Belgian government.

Dassault promises an economic return of 100% of the purchase price, which amounts to about 20 billion euros over 20 years and more than 5,000 high-tech jobs.
 
France promises 20 billion compensation to Belgium, if it buys its Rafale fighter plane

France offers 20 billion euros in compensation if Belgium buys the Rafale from the French manufacturer Dassault.

France has already promised a “strategic and economic partnership” if the Belgian federal government chooses the Rafale and not the competitors F-35 and Eurofighter to replace the F-16s. Paris, and Dassault Aviation have since worked on a concrete proposal to seduce the Belgian government.

Paris seemed to be out of play by not respecting the procedure set up by the federal government to replace fighter jets. However it appears that, as of now, that the French government and Dassault are not adhering to the procedure, as they are seeking to offer more economic compensation to Belgian industry than is feasible within the framework originally established by the Belgian government.

Dassault promises an economic return of 100% of the purchase price, which amounts to about 20 billion euros over 20 years and more than 5,000 high-tech jobs.
The winner will not earn a lot of money with that bid !
 
Dassault reveals orders, deliveries for 2017

France’s Dassault Aviation Group announced its orders and deliveries for 2017 on 8 January, ahead of the company’s annual financial report in March.

According to Dassault, nine Rafale aircraft were delivered during the year, with one aircraft for France, and a further eight to Egypt, in line with the company’s forecasted rates. The level was stable compared to 2016 rates of production, when six aircraft were delivered to the French military and three to Egypt.

The company also delivered one Rafale to the French Navy retrofitted to the aircraft’s F3 standard. The F3 standard covers improved digitisation, an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, and the ability to carry a greater range of sensors and targeting systems.

The company currently has a backlog of 101 Rafale aircraft, of which 31 are for the French military and 70 are for export customers. This is to be boosted by a further 12 aircraft once the company received a down-payment from Qatar for the aircraft ordered in December 2017. In 2016, the company had a backlog of 110 Rafale aircraft, with 32 for the French military and 78 for export customers.

Dassault also recorded an increase in orders for its Falcon business jet, with 41 aircraft ordered compared with 33 in 2016. Cancellations also declined year-on-year for the Falcon, with 12 aircraft cancelled in 2016 compared with three in 2017.