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For those who have not seen it yet, I repost this superb video from 2009-2010 showing the work of the Charles de Gaulle deck officers.



During le Libyan conflict from April to august 2011 the Rafale, Super Etendard and Hawkeye of the French Aircraft carrier conducted 1573 combat missions.

MMRCA, Bids to be opened November 4

Original picture © Dassault Aviation - K. Tokunaga

Livefist Blog is reporting that Dasault Aviation and EADS have been Invited to the India Ministry of Defense for the opening of the bids on November 4.

"According to procedure, the contents of both bids will be read out to all present and then signed by all members of the Contract Negotiation Committee"

So, apparently there is a 2 weeks time shift in the initial schedule stated on October 8. Therefore we can expect the winning bid to be revealed at the end of November, early December.

Source: livefist

No export Future for the Rafale ?

Source : flightglobal.com

Cassidian, EADS military branch, part of the Eurofighter consortium displayed a strange chart during the last Seoul Air Show. According to Cassidian predictions, the Rafale production will end up in 2019 with zero export orders while the Eurofighter will sell until 2035.
Well, we all know that marketing powerpoints always tend to twist a bit the reallity but this one is certainly over optimistic about the export potential of the Typhoon compare to the Rafale.

First, the Tranche 3B of the Eurofighter (124 aircrafts) is in very bad shape and will most probably be cut.
Then, the export prospects of the plane are certainly not as bright as the chart says : the probability to get orders from Japan and Korea is very thin (if not nil), and the risk that India and Switzerland  go for the Rafale is quite high. Not to mention the UAE and Brazil where the Typhoon is not even considered at all.

In 2012 we should have a clearer view of the fighter market for the next 15 years and it could be very different from the Cassidian crystal ball forecasts as far as Rafale and Eurofighter are concerned..

Switzerland, a decision before 2012

©Thierry Gay

The Switzerland Federal council should decide which aircraft to buy (Rafale, Eurofighter or Gripen) before the end of the year on the basis of a proposition submited by the Federal Defense Department (DDPS).

Meanwhile, the 3 contenders (Dassault, EADS and Saab) have been asked to update their proposal, made in 2009 before the end of October.
Since 2009, the exchange rate of the euro vis a vis the Swiss Franc and the Swedish Krona has droped by  more than 17 %. The mechanical result is that the Rafale and the Eurofighter are now 17% cheaper than in 2009 whereas the Gripen price has remained more or less the same.

Therefore the principal advantage of the Gripen compare to the Rafale (the price gap) will probably suffer in the new quotations. One could also argue that if the selection process has been accelerated to take advantage of the favourable CHF/Euro exchange rate, the Gripen has already lost.
Furthermore, if the rumors about the Eurofighter being too expensive to match the Swiss budget despite the weak Euro prove to be true, this could mean that the Rafale will be in a very good position when the bids will be assessed.

Switzerland is expected to buy 22 new fighters in 2012 to replace her F-5 Tiger II

Libya, the end of Gaddafi

(edited  October 21st)  Following the liberation of Sirte today, October 20th, an US Predator drone and 2 French Mirage (apparently a 2000D and a F1CR) would have stop a fleeing convoy with Hellfire missiles and GBU-12 bombs.

Colonel Gaddafi, would have took part in this convoy and would have been captured alive by  Libyan NTC fighters but would have been killed (executed ?) later during a gun fight.   .

"When the car was moving it was caught in crossfire between the revolutionaries and Gaddafi forces in which he was hit by a bullet in the head," said Mr Jibril, quoting from the official NTC report.

The death of the Libyan dictator will probably mark the end of the war for NATO forces. According to the French Ministry of defense, no weapon were fired by the French Rafale and Mirage jets during the last 32 Air to Ground missions because of a lack of targets.... until this afternoon.

Sources :
bbc.co.uk
Associated Press
SecretDefense
defense.gouv.fr

Rafale picture of the day

Rafale M26 with 6 GBU-12 and 2 RPL741 tanks on the Landivisiau Naval Base tarmac on September 11th 2011
Picture credit : Bruno Dellière

UAE, Rafale deal probability is very high says French Defense Minister

Rafale : "négociation finale" avec Abou Dhabi, selon Longuet

Paris, October 17th, when asked by the LCI TV journalist about the probability for a Rafale deal with the UAE, The French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said "It is very high, It is very, very high" yet, adding that the deal is not done and that negociations are still going on between the manufacturer (Dassault), the UAE and the French state.