French Defence Chief On The Rafale

Was at a press event with visiting French Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Édouard Guillaud, this evening. Apart from a lot of questions on Afghanistan and the Indian Ocean, the Admiral responded to a question about the MMRCA competition by saying, “I am not going to raise the curtain on any specific discussions. Of course it is preferable that India operates the same equipment as us. It would contribute to better interoperability. The Rafale is one of the finest fighter jets in the world right now. India has purchased Mirage-2000s in the past, which continue to be some of the best fighter-bombers in the world. We have always been on India’s side strategically.”

Admiral Guillaud will also be visiting the Mazagon Dock in Mumbai tomorrow, the yard where India is in the process of license building six Scorpene-class submarines. The long-pending contract to upgrade the Indian Air Force’s Mirage fleet stands to be concluded and signed when President Sarkozy visits early December.

11 thoughts on “French Defence Chief On The Rafale”

  1. Nowadays, visiting Admirals, Air Chiefs and Defence Secretaries come to India for only one thing :- To Hawk their MMRCA contender.

    Whatever happened to diplomacy ? Country-country ties ? Respect amongst nations ?

  2. Rafale is a good fighter jet Not too long ago during the RED FAG exercises with USAF had fielded the Raptor F22 against the Rafale from the French airforce …. the F22 had a tough time to track the Rafale which had many tricks up its sleeve and had the F22 pilots impressed….

  3. The most outstanding feature of the Rafale is its Electronic Stealth. The SPECTRA suite is literally a Pandora's box. But the million-dollar question is will India buy it despite its forces' love for the M2K n the still relevant n formidable capabilities of the M2K-5 mk2/M2K-9.

    From the affordability point, what better timing could India have asked for??

  4. I have said this a number of times and in different fora. It would do the French (and India) good if they opened a production line in India. That would dramatically improve their chances of sales elsewhere in the world on the back of IAF.

    – Manne

  5. To the French:
    Rafale is a very good aircraft. When it need to be sold to the Indians, there is only one way. Make it as cheap as possible. Also offer all technology that's available with all options including the AESA radar to be competitive. It's really appreciable that the French even making the offer of putting the Kaveri onto the Rafale is a big boost to the Rafale being chosen. Put no restriction on technology transfer. Then you win the deal.

  6. Rafale is nice but rather expensive.

    Spectra seems to be rather hyped-up by the French.

    If Rafale and Spectra were as good and the French claimed how come they have zero exports? One can always blame it on politics however for some countries it does really matter to have a superior fighter. So if Rafale was that fantastic it would have sold already. UAE wanted significant upgrades on e.g. the radar just to make it on par with their F-16… And that would cause noise issues for SPECTRA… seems like a weak design.

    UAE is now interested in SH, and according to defensenews, the SH already meet the requirements of UAE, whereas Rafale does not…

    Rafale is nice but needs some more investment before it can really compete with SH.

    India should consider either SH, or, as a cheaper but still very capable option, the Gripen NG.

  7. ((("U.S.-based Lockheed Martin's F-16, and Boeing's F-18 Super Hornet emerged as the front-runners after the grueling trials." (AFP)

    Now what is that???? quite contrary to what we have been hearing?)))

    it's a US compagnies lobbying site, last time they just claimed that the SH was sold to UAE,

    irrational americanisism !

  8. Anon @ 7:46 PM

    To u/stand about SPECTRA you have to just look at the capabilities of the M2K-5 operating with RoC (Taiwan) which is capable of fully jamming SA-3 right up to SA-12. Needless to add that Rafale is much, much more advanced. Besides, it also has radar active cancellation techs. As to why no exports? You have already rightly guessed it n you are not wrong in your guess. Are we not witnessing the same pressure tactics here in India itself.

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