The Rafale has been used in Libya I think.  They wanted to make sure it had the "battle tested" stamp of approval.  One Arab nation tied a purchase of Rafales to how they did vs Gaddafi.

 

Doesn't India need a very high altitude plane? I thought the Rafale was a low altitude specialist.

Frankly I can?t see the Indians buying the Rafale. This is for a number of reasons.

1. Political motivation is a key factor here, traditionally much of India?s equipment has been British made, and Britain plays a very significant role in the EF project. Britain is viewed as a major ally, thus anything that can be done to further strengthen political and military ties will be warmly welcomed.

2. Long term military ambitions. The Typhoon has already been marketed to a number of key NATO partners. India wants a more prominent role on the world stage, thus the commonality in terms of the platform and logistics looks attractive to them.

3. The Typhoon is more likely to be permitted to be built under license in India, or at least a percentage of the airframes, France are desperately looking for a foreign customer to justify its own production costs and provide nutrition for its domestic production line.

4. Finally, my personal belief is that there is nothing that the Rafale can offer that the Typhoon cant, and there is indeed plenty that the Typhoon can offer that the Rafale cant. Generally, despite costs and initial spares shortages the Typhoon is a vastly superior platform with far greater room for future potential. it fits the bill for what India needs, and by placing a large order, the attractiveness of becoming more integrated with the current partner nations over the project (one is assuming that they will have a significant role to play in further development as a major customer, not necessarily joining the EF consortium, however this may be an option that they may want to pursue)

 

As to your second question, RAF Typhoons have now been engaged in a number of A2G attack missions over Libya and are credited with the platforms first combat kills. the Typhoon has also been rumoured to service in Afghanistan, however  little further has been mentioned in the way of this proposal and as for now i believe that the proposal has been shelved for the mean time anyway.

 

just my thoughts on the matter.

Most interesting is that passage:

US Boeing?s F/A-18 Super Hornet, the US Lockheed Martin Corporation?s F-16, the Russian MiG-35 and the Swedish SAAB?s Gripen did not pass the technical evaluation conducted by the IAF.

Don't the Arab king said the Rafale is yesterday's technology... and that the F-16 is oh so much superior... 

Sorry couldn't resist on that :-p

 

actually, I think this will go down as an issue decided by ToT - which is what the Indians have been expecting and demanding of a number of different requirements.  they certainly don't understand FMS caveats on combat systems

they also don't understand that no means no

Very much so - not to mention the reinvestment "perks", the more I hear about how the "competition" has been run the more I feel the actual articles themselves are superfluous to the TOT and reinvestment (offset) package offered - France has done all it can to offer full TOT to anyone who'll consider buying the Rafale.. Whether it's Brazil or India or trying to relax restrictions on high tech miltech exports to China it's pretty clear that France is the "loosest" woman on the block.

 

But as with all indian political events this will also be subject to a lot of further wrangling, I won't be surprised to see vendors reintroduced or the goalposts moved again.. in any case it'll probably be another year or more before any decisions are made, maybe they'll even buy a limited number of both platforms, that would make the greatest sense if the TOT whoring has gone the way they want.

 

R

they also don't understand that no means no

Man, you didn't understand what gf just posted.

 

ToT is excuses, the real deal is under the table, and the rebate does not go to the treasury of Indian government.