India invited to join Eurofighter consortium as partner

[Atreides 144]

24 April 2008

 

New Delhi: The Eurofighter consortium, makers of the Typhoon combat jets, said Thursday they were inviting India to join their consortium as a partner. The move, said analysts, is designed to boost chances of the consortium to land the Indian Air Force's $11 billion contract for 126 medium range multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA).

 

The Eurofighter consortium comprises Alenia SpA of Italy's Alenia Aeronautica, BAE Systems PLC of the UK and the Spanish and German units of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co - EADS Casa and EADS Germany.

 

Interestingly, India becomes the first non-European country to be invited to join the consortium, a senior executive from EADS informed the media. The offer, according to the executive, is contingent upon India opting for the Eurofighter for its air force. The executive spoke on conditions of anonymity.

 

The executive said that manufacturing parts of the combat aircraft in India will also help the makers of the Eurofighter meet the Indian government's offset requirements if it buys the aircraft, he said.

 

Adding increased weight to the offer was a comment from chief executive, military air systems, EADS, Bernhard Gerwert, who said at a press conference, "If India becomes a partner, they will also become a partner in all future technology enhancement."

 

"As part of our industrial cooperation offer, we invite India to become our member," said Gerwert.

 

India's ministry of defence has issued formal invitations to six foreign companies to supply 126 multi-role combat jets in a deal potentially worth about $11 billion.

 

The Indian Air Force currently operates a mix of Russian-made MiG and Sukhoi aircraft, as well as UK Jaguars and French Mirages.

 

Apart from the Eurofighter, Lockheed Martin Corp's F-16 Falcon, Boeing Co's F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, Dassault Aviation's Rafale and the Swedish Gripen fighter are also in contention for the deal.

 

Eurofighter plans to submit its bid for the combat jets on 28 April, which is technically the last day for receiving bids, a statement from Eurofighter said.

 

Though Indian defence regulations require foreign military companies, which have won contracts worth more than $71 million, to reinvest at least 30 per cent of the contract value back into the country's defence sector, in the case of the combat aircraft deal, this offset requirement has been raised to 50 per cent.

 

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Edited April 29, 2008 by Atreides

[JediMaster 451]

The only issue I could see them having with this is as of yet the Typhoon has the least mature air-to-ground capability of all the fighters. Well, check that, I'm not so certain about the Rafale's AG capabilities right now. They might be a bit further along, but I don't think it's VERY far ahead.

Gripen, Viper, and SuperBug have all been around quite awhile, in service, and had more attention on the AG side...I guess the SuperBug really doesn't have that much more time in service, but I know it's AG stuff has been done more rigorously as it's half the USN's fleet now. Rafale and Tyhpoon were both bought to be air to air first, with the air to ground coming later.

[+ST0RM 145]

The only issue I could see them having with this is as of yet the Typhoon has the least mature air-to-ground capability of all the fighters. Well, check that, I'm not so certain about the Rafale's AG capabilities right now. They might be a bit further along, but I don't think it's VERY far ahead.

Gripen, Viper, and SuperBug have all been around quite awhile, in service, and had more attention on the AG side...I guess the SuperBug really doesn't have that much more time in service, but I know it's AG stuff has been done more rigorously as it's half the USN's fleet now. Rafale and Tyhpoon were both bought to be air to air first, with the air to ground coming later.

 

Adding a bit here, the Rafale has already been/is being, used in the AG role over Afghanistan. Last March (2007), the Rafale-M deployed and successfully dropped the GBU-12 LGB. It's still over there, being mixed with the Mirage 2000D or operating alone/pairs.

 

The Typhoon is just now getting it's A-to-G clearances in time for it's scheduled deployment to the theater. How much this will play into the decision process is beyond me. My thought is that Dassault has a small lead in that the IAF already is very familiar with their products (M2000) and the Rafale has already proven itself in a real-world environment.

 

Lastly, the Super Hornet has quite a bit of service life left. Even with the F-35 slated to replace it, the E/Fs will the last to be replaced on deck. The USN isnt even done with the conversion of some of the Legacy Hornet units it has earmarked.

 

Storm