Rafale & Eurofighter- Guerre de com - Confrontations

[zx]

La guerre de communication a commencée entre le rafale et l'eurofighter, vu l'enjeu du MMRCA, il vaut mieux peut être faire un sujet séparer

Eurofighter a décidé d'ouvrir le bal.

http://www.eurofighter.com/eurofighter-world/airshows-events/paris-air-show/le-bourget-blog.html

Funnily enough, Eurofighter’s competitors seem to be a bit nervous, and probably, also a bit worried about the achievements of the Typhoon which are proving to the markets the aircraft’s real weight.

Réponse d'un blogeur.

Eurofighter very touchy after Rafale team claims superiority

http://rafalenews.blogspot.com/2011/06/eurofighter-very-touchy-after-rafale.html

[FATac]

Comme je le disais sur le fil "Eurofighter", la comm' sur leur blog du Bourget, c'est du FUD (Fear, Incertainty and Doubt).

C'est une technique (car c'est purement technique) de communication et de marketing négatif, visant à réduire le choix du consommateur en niant l'option de la concurrence, plutôt qu'en valorisant ses propres points positifs.

La comm' actuelle du Rafale correspond plus à celle, antérieure, de l'Eurofighter, sur le mode "second best to none" (le second de personne - donc le premier). Je comprend que ça énerve, surtout si c'est chiffré, quantifié, objectivé ou prouvé, mais c'est de bonne guerre.

[zx]

L'eurofighter surpasse le rafale  end air-sol

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2233653.ece

It has superior turnaround time, bombing capabilities

With just a fortnight left for the opening of commercial bids for the Indian military's biggest ever tender, four European nations — the U.K., Germany, Spain and Italy — bidding jointly for 126 fighter planes promised an open door technology transfer and emphasised the superiority of their Eurofighter Typhoon over its sole competitor, the French Rafale, during ongoing operations in Libya

“The technology transfer is very attractive,” said senior officers of the four-nation consortium while senior Royal Air Force officers, sidestepping the morality issue of bombing a sovereign country, claimed that the Typhoon has outperformed the Rafale in Libya.

Asked whether the source code — a bone of contention with the Americans who were knocked out of the competition earlier this year along with the Russians and the Swedish — would also be transferred, they said, “everything is on the table.''

India needs these planes to shore up its falling squadron levels brought about by the retirement of the MiG series but has displayed little desperation, preferring to evaluate both bids on merits. The commercial bids open on the first of next month and available information indicates that the French bid is likely to beat the four-country offer on price. It can restore this imbalance by lower life cycle maintenance costs and higher operational availability.

“There is very strong will to transfer all possible technology,” said senior officials while detailing the technologies that would accrue to the Indian Air Force if New Delhi opted for the Eurofighter's Typhoon. These include Carbon airframe, mission system capabilities and advanced avionics though the kind of radar sought by the IAF is still undergoing development.

British pilots and their commanding officers conducting operations over Libya against the regime of its President Maumar Qadhaffi displayed statistics to prove that out of the 1,000 plus sorties flown by Rafale, Typhoon and Tornado, it was the offering by their home country to India that was superior in terms of turnaround time and bombing capabilities.

While the Saturday's air display at the international air show in this decidedly British rural setting of vales and weeping willows was partly washed out by another decidedly British characteristic — the unpredictable weather — there was no let up in the attempts to hard sell their fighter. All the familiar arguments about precision strike capabilities being trotted out by the American-West European combine since Gulf War-I were also laid out — “we are denying ground to Gaddafi's forces; people are being protected and there are few civilian casualties.”

The approximately $11-billion tender would be a make or break affair for both the French and the four European nation team up. So far 280 Typhoons have been delivered to six countries, said officials trying to make the point that the French Rafale has had no international customers. Though the number of countries opting for the fighter appears impressive, the fact is four of the customers are the ones who are co-producing the planes. That leaves the other two – tiny Austria which does not want some of the features – and the cash rich Saudi Arabia, a perennial customer for Western offerings.

“Our strategic vision is to work in partnership with the Indian industry, to develop and manufacture in India, to meet the requirements of the Indian security forces. This is directly in line with the Indian government's policy to increase self-sufficiency in the defence and security technology/industry,” maintained officials aligned with the companies that have joined hands to produce the Eurofighter Typhoon.

They also sought to underline the previous relationships with India stretching back to the early days of the Indian Air Force — Spitfires, Hawker Hunters, Jaguars, Canberras, Gnats, Sea Harriers (Navy) and Hawk advanced jet trainers. The French too have their compelling arguments to offer since they too have been intimately connected with the Indian military.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony has repeatedly said merits of the plane rather than geo-political considerations would be the prime consideration. The coming days will see India being tested as the two sides step up pressure for what is said to be the mother of all defence deals as far as India is concerned.

[zx]

un charmant article sur le rafale

 O0  on voit qu'on enerve. cher, jamais vendu, pas bon, pas fichu de larguer une bombe, etc..

http://www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/Rafale-Proves-Itself-8-18-2011.asp

Rafale Proves Itself by James Dunnigan

August 18, 2011

The French nuclear powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91) will return to port in mid-August for some maintenance. Meanwhile, eight of its Rafale M fighter-bombers will fly to land bases and continue supporting operations in Libya. The French Air Force will also send some more Rafales to Corsica, where many of the NATO combat aircraft operate from, to eventually allow the navy Rafale Ms to get some delayed maintenance as well. The de Gaulle has been in action since mid-March, and it is the longest period of heavy combat operations for the carrier. Both the de Gaulle and its Rafales performed well.

It hasn’t always been that way. Last Fall, the de Gaulle set out for a four month mission to fight pirates off Somalia and Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan. But before it got very far, it returned to port for repairs. The problem was not major (bad insulation in an electrical cabinet), and was repaired in a few days. But it was embarrassing, since the de Gaulle has been sidelined by repairs and mid-life refueling for most of the previous three years. Thus the de Gaulle was considered an "unlucky" ship. All navies have these. But at least now the de Gaulle is also considered a reliable performer, which can handle months of sustained operations.

The de Gaulle took eleven years to build (1988-99) and was not ready for service until late 2000. It was downhill after that, with a long list of problems. The recently completed refurbishment was meant to address the most serious problems. More time was spent testing everything to make sure the de Gaulle was really good to go. But then, just when everything seemed right, something was wrong.

The recent refurbishment, in addition to replacing the nuclear fuel, required 2.5 million man hours (about half of that supplied by the crew and navy technicians) from 1,700 workers. The worked involved stripping old paint and applying 11,000 square meters (40 tons) of new paint on the hull. The 7,800 square meter flight deck was refinished. Over 80,000 meters of electrical cables were installed. Most of the mechanical systems were refurbished, and some were replaced. Electronic systems were upgraded, to include more satellite communications access and improved Internet capability. It's now easier to use VOIP (using the Internet for telephone calls.) The de Gaulle was supposed to return to service last year. But more problems arose. For "unlucky ships", there are always more unforeseen problems.

The Rafale fighter has also experienced a lot of hard times. Export sales have been impossible to come by, so far. Recently revealed (via Wikileaks) American diplomatic messages spotlighted one reason why. In one of those messages, the king of Bahrain proclaimed the Rafale "yesterday's technology." This attitude was shared by many other Gulf State rulers, and their purchasing officials. Because of the failure to find export customers, last year the production rate the Rafale was reduced from 14 a year to 11 a year. This slowed down the delivery of Rafales, mainly because the Defense Ministry has decided that other things are more important. The new emphasis (and spending) is on peacekeeping and anti-missile defenses.

Three years ago, France ordered another 60 Rafale jet fighters, for delivery over the next five years. Officially, France plans to buy 294, but only 180 have actually been ordered and about a hundred delivered. Four have been lost due to accidents.

Five years ago, the French Air Force activated its first squadron of Rafale fighters. The navy had received ten navalized Rafales five years before that, for service on the nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. The first prototype of Rafale was shown in 1986, and the aircraft should have entered service in the late 1990s.

While one of the more modern combat aircraft in the world, development of the Rafale was delayed by technical problems, and shortages of money. Entering development just as the Cold War ended meant that there was little enthusiasm for spending billions on an aircraft that would face no real opposition. But, facing the need to eventually replace all those Mirage fighters, development did get restarted, creating an aircraft superior to the American F-15s and F-16s, very similar to the F-18F, but inferior to the F-22 and F-35.

The Eurofighter, and several other very competitive aircraft have made export sales scarce. The 28 ton Rafale sells for about $100 million each, and so far, despite their impressive pedigree and features list, there have been no export orders. But the hundreds of combat sorties flown over Libya may change that. This is not the first combat for Rafale. Four years ago, six were sent to Afghanistan, rigged to deliver smart bombs. This went off well, but did not get nearly as much publicity as the Libya operations.

[TMor]

development of the Rafale was delayed by technical problems

J'aimerais savoir à quoi ils pensent...

[zx]

je ne vois que le M88 9t . il ne viendra sans doute jamais. ou il parle du programme rafale en général.

[TMor]

Oui bah, officiellement, c'est les financements qui ont retardé le programme. Donc, soit ils ont manqué d'idées pour meubler, soit ils veulent nous faire passer pour des cons, ou ils veulent faire croire qu'ils en savent plus que le commun des mortels...