MMRCA, is a 5% price difference irrelevant ?

Following the rumors about the 2 bids that were opened last Friday November 4th, lets speculate a little bit.
It is said that both bids are very close to each other with the Rafale about 5% cheaper. Although this difference may seem insignificant at first glance, it's still a quite large amount of money considering the unit price of a jet and the quantity bought by the IAF.

With a total order of 126 fighters, those 5% represent the price of 6 Rafale. That means that for the same price, you can either get 126 typhoon or 132 Rafale. It's as if Dassault was giving an additional plane for free for each squadron of 20 planes... nice :)


Now, if we estimate that the unit cost of the Typhoon is $100 million and the Rafale $95 millions (5% less), The total cost difference for 126 airframes reaches  $630 million which represents no less than 700 mica missiles (given a mica price at  $0.85 millions)

In this perspective those 5% start to make sense : Either you get 6 more airframes, or you can get enough BVR missiles to equip your entire MMRCA fleet (6 missiles per aircraft)...for free.

Yet, it also works the other way if the typhoon is the cheapest (as reported by Deccan Herald) ;)

Libya, The Last 4 Rafale have returned

General Palomeros with a Rafale pilot

November 4th, 02;00 pm, The last 4 Rafale that were stationed at the Sigonella Air base, Sicily, have returned to their home base of Saint Dizier yesterday, as reported by the French Ministry of defense. The pilots were welcome by their family and the "Provence" and Gascogne" squadrons staff.

Source defense.gouv.fr
Rafale Libyan operation photo album
Previous messages concerning Libya  on RafaleNews

Video, Rafale Solo Display, Sion air show

MMRCA, first rumors on the bids

India Ministry of Defense

So, the bids have been unsealed and their content revealed to Dassault, EADS and the Indian Defense Ministry officials. Then, each company has forwarded the figures to their respective government. The Indian MOD has already stated that the final decision will be anounced in 6 to 8 weeks. Until then, both competitors must respect a non divulgation agreement. However, some rumors are already leaking...

• Rumor N°1 : Dassault bid would be only marginally lower, meaning that it will take some time to find out the best offer including all parameters. 
• Rumor N°2 : both bids would be above the initial 42,000 Crore ($10 billions) estimate of the Indian MOD stated in 2007. That's not really a surprise but, now, some sources are talking about $20 billions which is a huge increase. 
• Rumor N°3 : A scheduled meeting, on the sidelines of the G20, between French president Sarkozy and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan have been cancelled and the cause could be related to the MMRCA and the opening of the bids (well, this one sounds very unlikely).

sources :
livemint.com
www.tribuneindia.com
dailypioneer.com
livefist.blogspot.com
indiatoday.intoday.in (video report)

2 videos about the current Rafale deployement in Afghanistan

En vol avec les chasseurs de Kandahar

Armurier sur Rafale

MMRCA, D-Day

This is it. the Indian Authorities and the Executives from Dassault and EADS will know in a few hours who is the lowest bidder of the MMRCA contest.
Indeed, the procedure imposes to both contender to be present during the opening of the sealed offers.
Theoricaly the lowest bid should win but in fact the process is a bit more complicated as the offset proposals which were submited and approved last month and the maintenance/operating costs have to be taken into account to identify the best overall offer. According to the IAF Air Marshal at least 3 weeks will be necessary to compute the best package.

Check Livefist for possible hot news during the day !
Also read IANS article

MMRCA, the last US attempt to hijack the deal

48h before the openning of the 2 finalists' bids, the US departement has initiated a last attempt to win the contest by proposing (again) the F-35 to indian authorities.
 
[...] India has demonstrated its interest in upgrading its inventory of fighter aircraft. It intends to
purchase 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft and is working with Russia on the development
of the Sukhoi/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA). The U.S. F-16 and F-18
competed, but were not down-selected, in the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA)
competition in April 2011. Despite this setback, we believe U.S. aircraft, such as the Joint Strike
Fighter (JSF), to be the best in the world. Should India indicate interest in the JSF, the United
States would be prepared to provide information on the JSF and its requirements (infrastructure,
security, etc.) to support India’s future planning. [...]

Honnestly I don't really understand the meaning or the purpose of such a move. Do they really expect india to cancel the MMRCA process if Dassault and Eurofighter bids are too high ? If so, a F-35 proposal would probably be out of the MMRCA price range too. Besides, India is already involved in a partnership with Russia to develop its own stealth medium and heavy fighters. It this context, it is difficult to imagine the US accepting to provide sensitive F-35 technology to India unless they intend to provide a F-35 "lite" with downgraded stealth capabilities.


Also read flightglobal Analysis