Qatar and Kuwait waiting for UAE to decide, says Mr. Longuet

Today, our Minister of Defence, Gérard Longuet, while invited by some aerospace journalists, talked about several topics...

Besides the tankers matter, he talked about the situation of Qatar (24 fighters) and Kuwait (18 to 22 fighters), two countries interested in Rafale, under a particular condition : they may pick the Rafale, but UAE have to lead the way. Longuet said the discussion with UAE are still under way, with no disruption, though admitting they are rightfully hard to please, given the complexity of such a deal.

Brazil, on the other hand, would have other priorities, and no short term decision is expected. Meanwhile, Mr Longuet kept on a positive stance about India. That's interesting since at the same time, Typhoon is rumoured to be the L1...

Lastly, Longuet made it clear that up to now, France is far from thinking about cutting Rafale orders.


Sources :
Defense News
Usine Nouvelle
LiveFist

MMRCA, India order 490 Mica

As part of the Mirage 2000 upgrade program signed in July 2011 with Dassault Aviation, India has just ordered 490 Mica missiles for €950 millions.
As the Rafale also uses the Mica as its primary BVR missile, this event could be interpreted as a good news for the French fighter in the ongoing MMRCA competition.

source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Video, Rafale leaves Afghanistan

Afghanistan : désengagement d’une partie du... par ministeredeladefense

The 3 Rafale C that were stationed in Kandahar for 4 months returned to France last November 27. The video reports that 200 shows of force were performed during missions lasting between 5 and 6 hours with 3 to 4 inflight refuelings.  During these 4 months the 3 Rafale logged a total of 1000 flight hours and 500 inflight refuelings. As far as the French fighters are concerned, only 3 Mirage 2000D remains in Afghanistan.

Source : http://www.defense.gouv.fr

Rafale pictures of the day

3 very interesting pictures of the Rafale usual maintenance. The first 2 pictures show the setup used to remove the canopy. on the third one we can see the device necessary to extract the radar and the OSF.
Note : I don't remember where those pictures come from, so if you know who took them, let me know.

Video, Carrier night landing

A must see video of a near zero viz landing of a Rafale M on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. No fear !



French Navy pilots qualified for night operations are called "Hiboux", " Owl" and wear a distintive triangular patch (see below)

© RafaleNews

MMRCA, 3 more weeks

Ok, we're back online :) Sorry for the delay !

MMRCA, no Gripen to steal the deal this time...

First things first, let's have a look at the MMRCA contest. So, what's new ?
Well... nothing ! The winner was to be decided before December 31, but apparently the Indian authorities will not reveal their choice before at least 3 more weeks which should be around January 20.
The reason for the delay is not clear. Tthey may need more time to fine tune their calculations in order to find out which of the 2 offers is the best one.Political preassure from both sides may also slow down the selection process. On December 30, the governements  of the 4 countries producing the Eurofigther (Germany, UK, Italy, Spain) have issued a confidential letter to India Prime Minister to support the Typhoon offer. Whether it is good or bad news for the Rafale is difficult to assess. It could be interpreted as a desperate Eurofighter move in order to reverse a pro-Rafale atmosphere. But it could also mean that the Typhoon is leading and that letter would be the final formality before signing the deal.

I personaly think that such a letter is quite odd as it is very late in the process. The fact that it would be intended to assure the support of the 4 countries is also strange : The political strength of Germany and UK which are marketing the Typhoon in india would not be enough ? Why did they feel the necessity to rassure the indian authorities about their support of the Eurofighter program ? Could it be that India is doubting that the Eurofighter partners will actually put on the table all the fundings required to get a true multirole aircraft ?

Anyway, we will soon know. A third possibility for the MMRCA delay could be related to budgetary issues. Indeed, India economy is not at its best right now : India currency is quite weak and the 2 MMRCA offers are said to be higher than expected. Therefore some sources think that India would be looking for a suitable financial framework before signing. This could mean a reduction of the number of aircraft ordered, a delivery schedule spread on more time or, in the worst scenario, the cancellation of the MMRCA.

sources
http://www.dnaindia.com/
http://livefist.blogspot.com/
http://www.expressindia.com/

Rafale news will be back on line tomorrow

We are off since December 10, but we are back tomorrow.

until then enjoy this Rafale solo display video from the Dubai Air show.

Excellence de la présentation du Rafale au Dubaï Airshow