India’s MMRCA Fighter Competition

It's finally Rafale vs. Eurofighter Typhoon for India's MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) military fighter aircraft purchase. India recently eliminated F-16 and F/A-18 E/F. 

                                                              Rafale

                                               Eurofighter Typhoon

Some of the weaknesses of the F/A-18 (Super Hornet) platform:

• Deep distrust of America’s reliability as an arms supplier 
• Technology transfer concerns 
• The aircraft’s expense. Given the costs to other customers so far, it seems unlikely that Boeing can deliver 126 fully-equipped F/A-18 E/F Block II aircraft for just $10.2 billion, let alone aircraft plus lifetime support. 
• The Super Hornet also offers poorer aerodynamic performance than the Eurofighter or Rafale, due to inherent airframe limitations. 
• Finally, it’s a new aircraft type for the IAF, so the entire support infrastructure would have to be developed from the ground up. 

Some of the weaknesses of the F-16 (Fighting Falcon):

• Weaknesses include the fact that Pakistan also flies F-16s; 
• The fact it’s a new aircraft type, so the entire support infrastructure would have to be developed; 
• Lockheed Martin’s difficulty in complying with industrial offset provisions, given their lack of penetration in India.

In 2006 Request For Proposals(RFP) were issued to:

• France’s Dassault (Mirage 2000-5 and Rafale), 
• BAE/Saab (JAS-39 Gripen), 
• EADS/BAE (Eurofighter Typhoon), 
• The American firms Lockheed (F-16 Block 70),  
• Boeing (F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet) and 
• Russia’s Rosonboronexport (MiG-29OVT with thrust vectoring, aka. MiG-35).