Le Rafale dans l'Indian Air Force

Saturday, Sep 26, 2009
BANGALORE: Rafale, the French built fighter aircraft and one of the six fighters competing for the Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) multi-billion dollar multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal is in Bangalore. Two twin-engine delta-wing multi-role fighters designed and built by France’s Dassault Aviation and piloted by IAF and French pilots have been undertaking flights – which are part of the MMRCA flight trials — from Bangalore’s HAL Airport since Tuesday.
Officials said the two French aircraft had flown non-stop to Bangalore from Dassault’s Flight Test Centre at Istres in France, thanks to the fighter’s in-flight refuelling capabilities.
One of the most modern fourth generation fighters, the Rafale is in use with the French Air Force, and the French Navy for their carrier-based operations. Officials said the Rafale met all the air staff qualitative requirements sought by the IAF and that Dassault was prepared to transfer all the technology that was required by the Indian side. They pointed out that the Rafale had a functioning Active Electronically Scanned Array radar.
Dassault’s bid had the strong backing of the Nicolas Sarkozy Government.
Piloted by IAF and French pilots, the two trainer aircraft will be based in Bangalore for the next fortnight, flying over, and in and out of Bangalore as they take part in the first phase of the flight trials. During the two weeks the aircraft will fly to Leh for the high altitude/cold weather trials and Jaisalmer for the hot weather trials.
Dassault’s technicians, pilots and maintenance crew will train and show IAF test pilots and flight test engineers the capabilities and uniqueness of the Rafale.
Besides the IAF test crews, the specially formed Indian Evaluation Team has representatives from the Ministry of Defence, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the Defence and Research Development Organisation, Directorate-General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance and Air Headquarters. Two evaluations teams have been formed for the MMRCA flight trials.
The next phase of flight trials will involve weapon firing trials in the country of the aircraft’s manufacturer. Besides the Rafale the other aircraft in contention for the $ 10 billion to $12 billion deal are Boeing’s F/A-18, Lockheed Martin’s F-16IN Super Viper, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company’s Eurofighter Typhoon, Russia’s Mikoyan MiG-35 and Sweden’s Gripen JAS-39.

Indian Air Force’s MMRCA $10 billion multirole combat aircraft trials to begin next week

India's quest to buy 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) will shift gear when the flight trials of the six global contenders will begin in Bangalore next week with US major Boeing's warplane F/A-18 being the first contender.

"F/A-18 will be the first contender to arrive in India for the trails that will begin in Bangalore next week," top IAF officers said in New Delhi today.

The US' Lockheed Martin F-16s, French D'Assault's Rafale, Swiss SAAB's Gripen, European consortium EADS' Eurofighter Typhoon and Russian MiG-35, the other five competitors for the USD 10-billion deal, will follow F/A-18, not necessarily in that order, for the first phase of the flight trials in India, they said.

After Bangalore, all contending aircraft will move to Leh for high altitude trials and to Jaisalmer for summer trials.

"We are optimistic that the trails on Indian soil and conditions of all the six aircraft competing for the deal will be completed before April end next year," the officers added.

The IAF would field a team of two test pilots each, who would carry out the flight trials in the three locations that the Air Force has chosen, they said.

"As per the trial schedule, the first phase involved training of Indian pilots on these competing aircraft in the country of origin. The second phase is the flight trials on Indian soil and airspace. The third phase would be test of specialist weapons that the manufacturers would provide on the aircraft in the country of their choice," they said.

A two-pilot team would test each of the aircraft, as there is a likelihood of overlap of the flight trial schedule of the six aircraft, the IAF officers said.

"The idea is to complete the trials as soon as possible and hence we got four pilots trained on these competing aircraft," they said.

India had floated the tenders for the MMRCA in August 2007 and the exhaustive technical evaluation of the six global manufacturer' bids were completed early this year.

The 126 MMRCAs will replace the aging MiG-21 fleet of the IAF and help in curbing the recent trend of depleting IAF squadron strength.

IAF's number of squadrons had gone down to an alarming 31.5 squadrons in 2006 following which the then IAF chief S P Tyagi had written to the government pointing out that there was an urgent need to procure fighters aircraft to maintain the force levels.

After the induction of British major BAE System's 'Hawk' Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs) in 2008, the fleet strength of the IAF has increased to about 33.5 squadrons compared to the sanctioned squadron strength of 39.5 squadrons.

Defence Minister A K Antony had recently told Parliament that the IAF squadron strength would continue to increase till 2015 when the MMRCA induction is likely to start, but face a down fall for a couple of years, before going north wards again to reach a maximum of 42.5 squadrons by 2022.

India’s MRCA (Multi-Role Combat Aircraft): Changes
MiG-21 BIS

The original intent of India’s fighter purchase was to replace hundreds of non-upgraded MiG-21s that India will be forced to retire, with a complementary force of 126 aircraft that would fit between India’s high end Su-30MKIs and its low-end Tejas LCA lightweight fighter. While plans to develop a “fifth generation fighter” in conjunction with Russia have received a lot of press, they are uncertain at best, address a different requirement, and offer no solution to the immediate problem of shrinking squadron numbers as existing aircraft are forced into retirement.
India is a large country, with coverage needs over a wide area (see map of airbases in “Order of Battle”) and on several fronts. One of which is Pakistan, whose JF-17 joint fighter program with China has India’s attention. The IAF currently has 30-32 squadrons worth of serviceable aircraft, depending on which report one reads. This is well below their target of 39 1/2. The number of IAF squadrons still flying MiG-21s of one vintage or another has now dropped to 12, and overall squadron strength is projected to plunge to 27 during the 2012-2017 period.
Lightweight multi-role fighters that could make up for declining aircraft numbers with broader and better capabilities would appear to fit that need, and India’s initial shortlist followed that template. The Mirage 2000 and MiG-29 were already in service with India in this role, and the JAS-39 Gripen offered a 4th generation aircraft whose costs and profile place it firmly in the lightweight fighter category. These aircraft served as a hedge against the potential failure of the Tejas lightweight Combat Aircraft project, and also offered a more immediate solution to plussing up numbers as existing MiG-21s and MiG-23s/MiG-27s were forced into retirement.
Since those early days, sharply improved relations with the USA have introduced a pair of American planes into the competition, and India’s view of its own needs is changing. Official sources told Jane’s in February 2006 that RFPs would be issued to France’s Dassault (Mirage 2000-5 and Rafale), BAE/Saab (JAS-39 Gripen), EADS/BAE (Eurofighter Typhoon), The American firms Lockheed (F-16 Block 70) and Boeing (F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet), and Russia’s Rosonboronexport (MiG-29OVT with thrust vectoring, aka. MiG-35).
That proved to be the case, creating a 2-tiered competition that includes both lightweight and medium fighters. This trend got a sharp boost in March 2006, when the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported a surprise pullout of the Mirage 2000, even though India already flies 40 Mirage 2000Ds, and its senior officials have touted standardization as a plus factor. Its place would be taken by the heavier, more advanced, and more expensive Rafale.
India’s changing requirements have also created delays to an already-slow process. For instance, both Jane’s Defence Weekly and Defense Industry Daily have covered India’s wish to ‘significantly’ augment their strike capability and range to deal with out-of-area contingencies. That delayed the MRCA RFP, until India’s view of its own needs solidified. Another contributor to these delays has been the need to refine and clarify the new industrial offset rules introduced in 2005, amidst lobbying by American defense firms.

Gripens head for AFS Jaisalmer

Sweden's Gripen NG, the last of the six fighter aircraft that are being evaluated by the Indian Air Force for the $12 billion medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal, left Bangalore on Monday morning for the Air Force Station (AFS) Jaisalmer.

Having gone through a week of performance trials — including a demonstration of air-to-air refuelling and flying manoeuvres — by the IAF's specifically designated MMRCA team here, two Gripens will now complete the remaining part of their flight tests over Pokhran and Leh before heading for the AFS Jamnagar and then to an air base in Sweden.

While one of the Gripens will undertake hot weather trials in and around the AFS Jaisalmer and later take off to perform a dummy run and bomb drop at the Pokhran test range, the other fighter, as part of the cold weather trials, will land in Leh, switch off, refuel and then take off again.

Ministry of Defence officials familiar with the MMRCA trials told The Hindu that while they expect no hiccups during the weapons drop over Pokhran, the Leh exercise proved challenging to the other contenders vying for the MMRCA deal.

The officials confided that four of the five aircraft in the MMRCA competition faced problems starting up in the rarefied atmosphere of Leh, and the IAF had to ask the manufacturers to undertake modifications in the aircraft's fuel systems.

The Gripen's evaluation is part of the MMRCA flight trials, which started in August last, when the F/A-18 Hornets arrived here. These were followed by another American fighter, the F-16IN Super Viper. In September, the French Rafale flew over Bangalore. It was followed by Russia's MiG-35 and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space consortium's Eurofighter Typhoon flew in March.

Once the flight trials are completed, the MMRCA evaluation team headed by the Principal Director, Air Staff Requirements, Air Commodore R.K. Dhir will write the technical report, narrowing down the competition to three or four contenders. Thereafter, the commercial bids will be opened, with the lowest bidder — as per India's defence procurement procedures — winning the contract.

India will miss a deadline tomorrow to complete the world’s biggest fighter-jet purchase in 15 years, risking a possible $1 billion price increase as Boeing Co. and five rival manufacturers resubmit bids.

India’s Air Force is still conducting flight trials for competing jets from Boeing, Lockheed Martin Corp. and four European companies, two years after accepting price quotes for 126 warplanes that the government said should cost about $10 billion. The bids expire April 28 and the Defense Ministry has asked manufacturers to submit offers for an additional year, its spokesman, Sitanshu Kar, said in a phone interview in New Delhi.

“The companies have been informed by the government that they can extend their bid for one more year,” Kar said. “They have the option of increasing or decreasing their price.”

The delay in buying what India describes as “multi-role combat aircraft” may raise the government’s eventual cost, said Mrinal Suman, a retired Indian army major general and arms procurement analyst. “By the recent track record, the cost of these aircraft generally goes up by 7 percent to 10 percent each year,” Suman said in a phone interview.

India’s failure to choose a plane within the planned two years “highlights that this is by far the biggest, most complex arms purchase India has ever undertaken,” said Suman, who monitors weapons procurement for the Confederation of Indian Industry.

‘Past Scandals’

Political considerations have slowed decision-making by Defense Minister A.K. Antony, said Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, senior fellow for South Asia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

“Antony has been trying to assure a squeaky clean deal to avoid any possible allegation of corruption, because of past scandals” that helped drive the ruling Congress Party to defeat in 1989 elections, Roy-Chaudhury said. Those scandals erupted over allegations that Indian officials took bribes in the purchase of Swedish artillery and German submarines.

Since the 1980s, no Indian government has made an open-bid arms purchase valued at as much as $100 million, or 1 percent of the fighter deal’s size, Roy-Chaudhury, Suman and other analysts say.

While the delay amid rising prices is likely to raise India’s cost, competitive pressures or exchange rate fluctuations may also counter such increases, Suman said.

India is buying the fighters as it has been phasing out Russian-built MiG jets, some of which date back to the 1970s. Twenty-one air force MiGs have crashed in the past three years, Antony said yesterday in a statement submitted in Parliament.

Himalaya Tests

The Indian air force has conducted flight trials for the six competing aircraft from a high-altitude airfield near Leh in the Himalayas, a desert base in Rajasthan state and in the tropical climate of Bangalore, Kar said. “The trials will be over shortly, maybe by the end of May,” he added.

The air force “will provide the government with two or three options that meet the technical needs, and then it will be up to the political decision makers,” Roy-Chaudhury said. Chicago-based Boeing, maker of the F/A-18 Super Hornet, and Lockheed-Martin, based in Bethesda, Maryland, which builds the F-16 fighter, may benefit from a desire by India to cement strategic ties to the United States, he said.

Lockheed-Martin “plans to update our commercial bid to ensure the best possible value to India,” company spokesman John Giese said in an e-mail. Boeing is “working to provide a compliant response” to India’s request that it extend its bid, spokesman Brian Nelson wrote in an e-mail.

Sweden’s Saab AB will make no change in its bid to sell the Gripen fighter, said Eddy de la Motte, who heads the company’s campaign in India. The other contenders -- Paris-based Dassault Aviation SA, Moscow-based United Aircraft Corp., and the European Aeronautic, Defense & Space Co., which has headquarters in Paris and Munich -- did not comment on their plans.

India has proved once again that it cannot push the pedal too hard for speedy procurement of a major weapon system. It has been forced to notify vendors seeking the coveted 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) award that they will need to rebid, prompting a schedule delay that might drive up costs.

The bidders represent the industry’s biggest fighter manufacturers—MiG Russian Aircraft Corp., Dassault, Eurofighter, Saab, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

The vendors were expected to complete flight trials early last month, giving the Indian defense ministry time to complete its bid evaluation by April 28. Contract rules called for rebidding if that deadline was missed, pushing the start of the winnowing process to April 2011.

Downselect will probably name three finalists, although no specific number has been stated or schedule given. There also is no timeframe for when a winner will be chosen. Politics is partly responsible. The downselect will be reviewed by a parliamentary committee, and the possible lobbying could extend the selection process beyond next April.

As this year’s deadline approached, the Eurofighter Typhoon was still making its final flights and the Saab Gripen, the last candidate, was not even in India. Held up by other tasks for the Swedish air force, the aircraft is not expected until late May.

Ministry officials were not commenting last week about a re-bid. But the Indian air force does not see it as a setback. Its emphasis is on being able to evaluate all the contenders.

“Testing is done in various envelopes, and as long as the associated requirements are met, that is [what is] important to us,” says a senior air force official. “We’re hoping all tests will be over by May.” If so, the assessment process will take another two months to complete.

While this official acknowledges that delay-driven re-bids might drive costs up as much as 7%, he says that is not a prime issue for air force headquarters. Its focus is on aircraft capabilities. Pricing comes into play beyond the air force’s level.

Earlier this year, Defense Minister A.K. Antony acknowledged that India’s acquisition process has been notoriously slow. The Defense Procurement Procedures Act for 2010 is supposed to remedy this problem.

“The effort in this direction is already on,” he says. “We have to further reduce the delays.”

But the MMRCA program seems to contradict that assertion, since delays are likely to raise program costs and prevent the air force from putting the winner into service on schedule.

In extending bids by a year, the ministry is acting under 2006 procurement procedures, which allow bids to be revised up or down, says a spokesman. “It’s up to the [vendors] to decide. Besides, it shouldn’t matter [since] the bids will remain sealed, so nobody knows the other quotes.”

Some vendors are concerned that the delay will make bidding more volatile. They cite U.S. dollar fluctuations against the euro during the past year.

The final currency rate for the program will be frozen on the date bids are completed. Move that date ahead a year and the dollar might be considerably stronger, given the uncertainties that the euro is now facing with issues such as Greece’s debt crisis. If that is the case, bidders in euros may have an advantage, one financial analyst says.

Vendors are not commenting on what changes they might make to their bids.

As for the F/A-18E/F con­tender, Boeing Defense, Space & Security Vice President Vivek Lall’s diplomatic response is typical: “We are working to provide a compliant response in support of the deadline set,” he says.

Still, Antony says India is forging ahead with “refinement and evolution” of its bidding practices under the 2010 procurement act. “But at the same time we are spending money from the public exchequer. We have to make sure that every penny is spent judiciously.”

• les perspectives politiques de cet appel d'offres.
• quel type d'appareil semble le plus logique au regard de l'IAF

The Indian Ministry of Defence on Wednesday, April 27, asked Dassault Aviation and Eurofighter to extend their commercial bids beyond the April 28 deadline for the 126-aircraft medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) requirement. In effect, this signifies a down-selection of the two Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon for the deal, with the bids of the Boeing F/A-18, Lockheed Martin F-16, UAC MiG-35 and Saab Gripen NG being allowed to lapse.

The decision follows an exhaustive technical evaluation of the six types, and examination of the commercial and offset proposals. A final decision could come in September.

India expects to acquire its first 18 MMRCAs directly from the manufacturer, but with subsequent production shifting iteratively to India’s HAL company

NEW DELHI — Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony says India’s much-anticipated choice in its Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program could occur before the end of March 2012.

India wants to expedite the deal in part because Pakistan is expecting a speedy delivery of 50 JF-17 aircraft, which originally were to be spread out over two years, according to defense ministry officials.

Pakistani Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar has been quoted saying that his country is seeking delivery within six months of the JF-17 Thunder single-engine multirole fighters, which were developed by China and Pakistan.

A Pakistan air force spokesman says the first batch of these aircraft will be handed over to Islamabad within weeks.

The agreement to expedite the delivery came as Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, held talks in Beijing on May 19.

Antony has expressed discomfort over this development. “It is a matter of serious concern for us. The main thing is, we have to increase our capability — that is the only answer,” he says.

Last month, India short-listed the Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale for the estimated $11 billion contract to provide 126 fighter jets (Aerospace DAILY, April 28). India rejected Boeing’s F/A-18E/F and Lockheed Martin’s F-16. Russia’s MiG-35 and Saab’s Gripen also were shut out.

The Indian air force is buying the MMRCA to replace its aging Soviet-era MiG-21 fighters, which date back to the 1960s.

“The negotiation for crucial commercial terms will begin next month,” says Michael Christie, senior vice president at BAE Systems India. BAE is part of the Eurofighter consortium, along with Alenia Aeronautica and EADS.

The first 18 jets will be bought in “fly-away” condition, and the remainder will be produced under license with a selected vendor in India.

According to sources close to the project, the government has initiated negotiations with the bidders on offset requirements. India has fixed offset obligations at 50%, requiring that half of the deal’s worth be reinvested in Indian industry.

Eurofighter, Dassault Submit Revised Offset Bids, Indian MMRCA Contest Enters Final Round

Eurofighter and Dassault, the two shortlisted bidders in India's MMRCA fighter tender submitted revised offset bids on June 17 signaling the start of the final round of evaluation at the end of which one of the bidders will walk away with the $10 billion tender to equip the Indian Air Force (IAF) with 126 (plus 66 options)Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA).

A source from one of the bidders told Defenseworld.net at the Paris Air Show 2011 that the updated offset bids included individual MoUs with third part equipment providers which supply critical equipment such as engine, avionics and other critical systems. Earlier offset propsal submitted had only offset commitments on the part of the bidders who are essentially platform integrators.

The Indian MoD has not given any timeframe for their next engagement with Dassault and Eurofighter, the sources said adding that they expect to hear from the customer within the next 2-3 months. After the studying the offset proposals, the MoD will call the two bidders for final discussions on price/contract performance and select one among them.

"The revised offset bids include 50% direct engagements with Indian companies such as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), and several other Indian private groups such as the Tatas, Mahindras, L & T and others", said the source.

The MoD had asked the two bidders to extend their commercial bids (price quote) till the end of the year. Generally, commercial bids are valid for two years from the date of the RFP.

I'd been very wary all weekend about posting about a very strong rumour that's been doing the rounds specifically for the last five days or so, but now a mainsteam Indian business newspaper (Mint) has a piece today leading with precisely that -- word that the Eurofighter Typhoon has been identified by the Indian MoD as the lowest bidder (L1) in India's monumental $20-billion medium multirole combat aircraft (M-MRCA) competition. Obviously, there is no official confirmation of this, and there is unlikely to be any until a formal announcement is made either way. The competition has been marked by hearsay and rumours right through its life (sometimes, vendors have leapt in to correct them), and I'm only putting this post up since a mainstream newspaper has put it down in print (and that I'd heard the rumour as well). It's delicate right now.

The brief report goes on to say that representatives of EADS Cassidian and Dassault are to be summoned to the MoD on Thursday (Jan 12). So is this it? We'll know soon. Stay tuned.

Please note, the results of the MMRCA have not been officially announced, this article is based on unofficial channels and must be taken as speculative and not official. However, I have good grounds to believe it is true. - 01/13/2012