The Political battle for India`a next fighter intensifies with German Chancellor visit

With a $10.4-billion tender for supply of 126 combat planes to India in the pipeline, visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday made a pitch for the Eurofighter Typhoon jets, built by Germany-led four-nation consortium EADS Cassidian.
‘With the Eurofighter, we have made good proposals and want to intensify our relationship with India. The Eurofighter is the best product on offer,’ Merkel told a joint press conference along with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the first day of her two-day visit here.
Merkel, however, stressed, that she will not exert any influence on the procurement process and ‘we shall wait and see’.


Political circles have increasingly been driving home their commercial interests for military deals with India.The latest one being France assuring India that "[India's] concern about weapon sales [by France to Pakistan] was raised… the military equipment is for electronic communication interception… we have discouraged any requirement for naval equipment,” Mr. Longuet said in an interaction with journalists on Friday at the end of his two-day visit". And there goes the French push. France had earlier supplied Agosta submarines to Pakistan,and if the latest reports are to go by, France has suspended military sales to Pakistan.This may augur well for India ( but only if it decides on the Dassault Rafale ) -else things may fall back to Pakistan again.Coz at the end of the day, business seems to be the most important factor for the French , rather than the Indo-Pak tussle.




The combat jet tender, described as ‘mother of all deals’ in Indian military circles, is in its final stages.
India had earlier this month shortlisted Eurofighter Typhoon (jointly manufactured by Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain), along with Rafale from French firm Dassault for the competition.
In the process, India has rejected fighter jets from the Americans (Boeing’s F/A-18s and Lockheed Martin’s F-16s), Russians (United Aircraft Corporation’s MiG-35) and the Swedes (SAAB’s Gripen).
India is expected to decide on the ultimate winner of the contract end of 2011. The contract entails investment of nearly 50 percent of the deal amount back in domestic defence industry, A condition the defence ministry imposes on many of its big deals in a bid to improvise the home grown defence Industry.

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Naval Eurofighter Typhoon vs F/A-18 for the Indian Navy

Eurofighter GmBh has announced  in Aero India 2011 that it is in talks with India to jointly develop a naval version of the Eurofighter Typhoon, especially for the Indian Navy.
   In its flyer issued on 11 Feb, Eurofighter GmBh has outlined the potential advantages of the Naval variant, as compared to the American F/A-18 Hornet , which it describes as " heavy,slow and not capable of facing advanced threats "     ( talk about offensive advertising :-P ).



See it here:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0WnP87gUQszuw65nWB-fJPmEaiqO3xf21-jE4Uus2s6CNGmMXFyD_bT36Ya2-afmcPJVhu86OPZ0jbWCDqEWVx_E2qoX6r4UuEk-M6s-xnsu5uC0YvOA5_hcIFfrObE5Iw77KBhXpRU/s1600/Typhoon+IN.JPG

The Eurofighter Typhoon

How the proposed Naval  Eurofighter Typhoon  measures up with the F/A-18 :- 

Engine modifications : The naval variant is offering helmet mounted cueing system (HMCS) and thrust vectoring as its two core technologies... This would enable the aircraft to land more safely on aircraft carriers, negating the use of  arrestor cables. The arrestor frame caused unnecessary aerodynamic drag to the aircraft, coupled with increased landing difficulty , such as the F/A -18.

It must be noted that Thrust Vectoring is a capability which even the F/A-18 doesn`t have. Currently the NASA experimental version of the F/A-18 uses thrust vectoring , though it has not been used by any section of the military as yet.

Avionics : The naval typhoon offers AESA ( Active Electronically Scanned Array ) radar , whereas the F/A-18 has the old AN/APG-65 radar. obviously here, the AESA radar offers much better protection to the Fighter by transmitting powerful signals without remaining much visible to enemy radars.
Incidentally, the AESA radar is used in advanced 5th generation fighters like the F-22 raptor and the F-35 Lightening II.

Performance : As far as performance is concerned , the Typhoon is admittedly much more superior to the F/A-18 in terms of maneuverability , agility , fuel burn and overall handling. Further, the Typhoon can accelerate to Mach 1.5, without afterburners !  This would be a great capability any navy would want to have.

Radar Signature : Typhoon has great measures taken to reduce its radar signature - less than 1 sq. metre. Although not a stealth fighter, radar detection is significantly more difficult  compared to other fighters in its class. The F-18 has significantly more cross section and hence a greater radar signature.

Other Factors :  The Indian Navy may be interested in this offer from another politico-management point of view.

On any day, Typhoon`s maintenance and spare parts would be more reliable, compared to what the US can offer, due to its ever changing domineering foreign policy, sanctions , export restrictions etc.

Also,Eurofighter GmBh is seriously pursuing India for joint development programs and technology transfer for the naval typhoon, which means that soon, Indian companies will be churning out future typhoons the same way HAL manufactures Sukhoi 30-MKIs.

A note to add : The current comparison is with the classic F/A- 18 which is currently in use by many nations world over.
The F/A-18 Super Hornet, is the latest variant by Boeing which has better avionics and features compared to the F/A-18, like the AESA radar, and is more or less at par with the Typhoon.

Avionics have been the major thrust in this variant, in addition to airframe changes which have resulted it in being 20 % larger and heavier by 3200 Kg. On the other hand, there is a 40% increase in range.

But again, in an aircraft carrier, range is not as important a criterion than the weight and takeoff/landing capabilities are.Here , the Typhoon still scores over.

Anyhow, lets not forget that the naval typhoon is still in the design stage and no prototype has been flown yet.Compare this to the F/A-18`s impressive naval track record.
There is some real thinking to do on the part of the Indian Navy.

On the whole, it will be interesting to see India`s response to this proposal.
AirborneGeeks will keep you updated.

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