Author: Eagle Owl
A few years ago, the Indian military officially reached an agreement with the French side to purchase 36 Rafale fighters for a huge amount of $8.8 billion, which caused heated discussion among many parties for a time. Many media commentators have said that India pays an average of nearly $250 million per Rafale fighter, which is almost 3 times the factory price of the Rafale fighter.
So the question is, are Indians really stupid enough to pay three times the price of a super expensive "four and a half generations" fighter, or are there other plans?
It's not that expensive
The first thing to do is to "get literacy", that is, the Rafale fighter jets bought by India are not as expensive as most people think. In fact, the price of the Rafale fighter purchased by India is 88 million US dollars, which is not much different from the factory price, and the 36 Rafale fighters add up to only 3.06 billion US dollars. So the question is, where did the other $5.8 billion go?
Rafale fighter painted by the Indian Air Force
The answer is simple: India also purchased a large number of weapons, ammunition and spare parts when purchasing these Rafale fighters, and the additional weapons procurement cost of each fighter plane was as high as $25 million; in addition, India also bought Dassault's ten-year warranty service, and the maintenance cost of each fighter aircraft was as high as $53.4 million.
Finally, India also asked the French side to build two thermostatic hangars and supporting logistics facilities specially tailored for the Rafale fighter in India, which removed another $1.2 billion... In fact, India did not spend much money to buy the aircraft body, and buying supporting facilities was the biggest part of the money.
But the question arises again: It is not that India cannot continue to buy Russian Su-30 and MiG-29 fighter jets, and the supporting logistics system of these Russian-made fighters india has long been playing well, and there is no need to pay an extra five billion DOLLARs - so why would India prefer to pay more money than buy Rafale fighters?
Su-30MKI fighter jet purchased by India
No choice
At first glance, in India's plan to purchase a new generation of fighters, there are not many candidates - the modern and upgraded F-18 and F-16 of the United States, the Typhoon fighters of Europe, the Soviet and MiG fighters of Russia, and so on... However, in the eyes of the Indian Air Force, the seemingly dazzling options are actually quite difficult to choose, and it can even be said that they have no choice.
In the beginning, India excluded the "elderly" F-18 (not the Super Hornet) and F-16 fighters. Because the former is not modern enough to meet the future needs of the Indian Air Force, the latter has been listed by the US Air Force as a veteran who is about to retire. Naturally, India cannot go to the United States and buy an old thing that is about to be retired. In addition, the United States likes to engage in "military trade sanctions" the most, and buying US arms always has to carry some political terms, which makes India very worried that the United States will take the opportunity to get stuck in its throat. As a result, American goods were out first.
U.S. F-16C fighter
It seems that Russian-made fighters are very suitable for the Indian Air Force, because the main air superiority fighter of the Indian Air Force so far is still the Su-30MKI fighter, and India is also very experienced in the maintenance and use of Russian-made fighters. If it continues to buy Russian-made fighters, India can obviously save a lot of money.
But the Indian Air Force does not think so - because more than 70% of the aircraft in the Indian Air Force are Russian-made fighters, the Indian Air Force does not want to increase its dependence on Russia, so it only purchases a limited number of Russian-made fighters to fill the vacancies in the fleet, rather than using Russian-made fighters as the main procurement direction.
The last two options in front of the Indian Air Force are the Typhoon fighter in Europe and the Rafale fighter in France. After some struggle, the Indian Air Force declared the Rafale fighter a winner, citing lower life cycle costs. But in fact, as the "best fourth-and-a-half-generation fighter for India", the reason why rafales can win is far from being cheaper.
Gusts of wind that can do anything
One of the big reasons why the Rafale fighter was able to win was its versatility. India's need is not a twin-engine heavy air superiority fighter, but an advanced, multi-role four-and-a-half-generation fighter to replace the aging Legal Mirage 2000 fighter. Obviously, the Typhoon fighter, which has a weak ground strike capability, does not meet India's needs, and the Rafale, which can control air and drop bombs and counter ships, has become the only and most suitable choice for the Indian Air Force.
Unlike the old Su-30MKI and MiG-29 fighters, India's purchased Rafale-DH/EH fighter is equipped with an active phased array radar with a maximum air-to-air detection range of more than 200 kilometers, and if paired with a range of 150 kilometers of Meteor long-range air-to-air missiles, the Indian Air Force's Rafale fighters will pose a serious threat to any of its biggest direct opponents, any type of fighter of the Pakistan Air Force.
Meteor long-range air-to-air missile
In terms of ground strikes, the Rafale fighters did not fall behind at all. Although not designed to be a full-time ground attack aircraft, Rafale is still able to obtain strong ground strike capabilities by adding RNG/A reconnaissance pods or photoelectric/laser guided pods. It is worth mentioning that the Indian Air Force previously needed to rely on the Mirage-2000 to carry nuclear bombs to form an air-based nuclear deterrent, and its successor, the Rafale fighter, also has the ability to carry nuclear missiles, which is one of the important reasons why Rafale has won the competition.
Interestingly, the Rafale's weapons pylons meet the Mil-Std-1760 standard, and based on this standard procedure, Dassault is able to attach weapons and ammunition from different countries to Rafale pylons according to the needs of customers. This means that India's Rafale fighters will be able to carry ammunition from different countries such as the United States, Russia, Israel, etc., and for India, where the sources of weapons and ammunition are extremely complex, compatibility is an extremely important point when choosing fighters.
The Gust has a good mounting capability
For now, the Rafale fighter has excellent air superiority, ground strike and even sea attack capabilities, which greatly meets the needs of the Indian Air Force. The Indian Air Force would have needed at least 42 squadrons of fighter jets for different missions, but at the moment there are only 31 squadrons. After joining the Indian Air Force, Rafale, which can do anything, can alleviate the "fighter shortage" of the Indian Air Force to a certain extent, and can effectively cope with various battlefield environments - but if you want to solve this problem completely, the Indian Air Force still has to obediently pay for more fighters.
There is also selfishness
But you think Indians bought Gusts and just intended to use it with peace of mind? That would be a big mistake.
As we all know, India wasted decades of time on the domestic "Shine" fighter, and finally came up with a thing that even the Indian Air Force itself did not want to use. In desperation, India decided to "add weight" to the Tejas fighter, redesigning its fuselage to tuck in two engines in exchange for more powerful mounting capabilities and flight performance. So the question arises: which delta-wing twin-engine multifunctional fighter can India choose as an "important reference" for the future improvement direction of the Tejas fighter? The answer is obviously a gust of wind.
Indian Tejas fighter
According to public information, $162 million in the contract signed between India and France was used to cooperate in the development of India's domestic jet engine, which is planned to be used by the future Tejas fighter. In addition, the Rafale fighter makes extensive use of composite materials, absorbing coatings and radar stealth designs, which make the front radar reflection area of the Rafale fighter much lower than that of the Mirage-2000 fighter, or even only one-twentieth of the Mirage-2000, which is the best stealth design among the four and a half generations of fighters.
The Indian military has also said many times that it hopes to improve the Tejas fighter to a fourth-and-a-half-generation fighter, and has a certain stealth capability, and accumulates experience for India's development of fifth-generation aircraft. Obviously, gusts can provide a good technical reference for India.
On an aircraft carrier?
The arrival of the gusts not only made the Indian Air Force rejoice, but also gave hope to the Indian Navy. At present, the Indian Navy is stepping up the construction of domestic aircraft carriers, and the selection of supporting carrier-based aircraft has also been put on the agenda. Considering the proportion of Russian-made fighters in the Indian army, the Indian army does not intend to continue to purchase the MiG-29K as a carrier-based aircraft, but considers purchasing Western carrier-based aircraft such as the American F/A-18E/F "Super Hornet". And The Rafale, which also happens to have its carrier-based model Rafale-M.
At present, India has launched a tender for a new generation of carrier-based aircraft, and the first batch plans to purchase 57 carrier-based aircraft. In this regard, Indian Navy officer Ankur Baldan said that if the Rafale fighters of the Indian Air Force are running well and reliable, and at the same time have strong combat effectiveness, then the Indian Navy will also consider purchasing the ship-based version of rafale as a new generation of carrier-based aircraft.
Rafale M on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier
In addition, France's Dassault also said it is confident of signing another contract with India for at least $1 billion to sell more Rafale fighters, including carrier-based versions, to India.
Chicken blood, but not good chicken blood
At present, some Rafale fighters have arrived at Thera Air Base in India, and India's thermostatic hangar specially customized for Rafale fighters is also located at the base. The news quickly ignited all walks of Life in India, and even Indian Defense Minister Singh began to openly "rhythm" on social media, bluntly saying: "The arrival of Rafale fighters can effectively counter those who threaten the security of our territory."
In the recent tense situation on india's border, the Indian media has been grumpy because of the loss, and the arrival of the gust at this time is tantamount to a needle of chicken blood, which has made all walks of life in India excited. As a result, some strange remarks also began to appear.
J-20 fighter
The Indian Business Insider website posted on the night of the arrival of the Rafale fighter: The Indian Rafale fighter is far superior to China's J-20, because the Rafale is a 4.5-generation fighter, and the J-20 is at best a 3.5-generation fighter. There are even crazier media outlets on social platforms that India's Rafales already have stealth performance comparable to the U.S. F-22, and are completely unafraid of foreign challenges.
Fighting chicken blood cannot be said to be a bad thing, but as far as India's current public opinion trend is concerned, the arrival of the Rafale fighter jet injected into India's tube of chicken blood is indeed counterproductive. As for whether the fourth and a half generations of Rafales have the ability to challenge the fifth generation fighters such as the J-20 and F-22, you should have a number in mind.