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#21
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True. On the other hand the US Congress actually refused to
sell weapons to Britain and France at a very critical moment. With this timely bit of information, I'm going to thank Emmanuel for reminding us what this thread was about and leave my comments to stand as they are. This isn't alt.political.historical.contemporary.war.morals, and I'm certainly not an expert on such. Thanks for the details on the Rafale Emmanuel, Tony |
#22
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"Paul F Austin" wrote in message ... "WaltBJ" wrote IS the Rafale dead? Nobody answered the question. BTW the US armed forces, with the exception of the Navy, didn't have anything to fight with in 1941, let alone 1939. Look it up. It's not dead but it is very ill, for lack of foreign military sales. France alone can't manage Rafale procurement at a rate that would give them a viable force in reasonable time, not when she is funding the A400M, a new carrier, procurement of the fourth Triomphant.. All those things are also in competition with social security funding as the French population ages. It seems very unlikely that the Rafale will *ever* have a foreign military sale. The best chance is 25 years from now when France wants to upgrade, and the planes are both used and cheap. Or maybe politics can force someone like Taiwan to buy them (but I doubt it). Seriously, it's hard to imagine the nation that would pick the Rafale when the Typhoon and the F-16/18 are available. |
#23
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Mike wrote:
Those aditionnal 100 are not so speculative. Until they're included in a current budget cycle, I'm inclined to call them speculative. Plenty of planned systems have not been bought under similar situations. Please note that my skepticism has nothing to do with France or Rafale in particular.* It's just the nature of defense procurement worldwide that anything in the outyears, especially past five years, is always subject to change. To assume anything past the current five-year budget cycle for any military is a certainty is unwarranted optimism, IMO. And even the five-year plans are never cast in stone. * Indeed, I'm disgusted by the anti-French bigotry (verging on racism) displayed by some posters here. -- Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail "If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing special about bravery." -- Andy Rooney (attributed) |
#24
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"Emmanuel Gustin" wrote in message ... "WaltBJ" wrote in message om... IS the Rafale dead? Nobody answered the question. Rafale is alive, but the French are more or less skipping the first 'series' of Rafales. Only a dozen production aircraft (two for the air force, ten for the Navy) were built to 'F1' standard, basically air-air capability only. Just enough to create a naval 'Flotille' for the 'Charles de Gaulle' and support further development. The main production is now planned to be of upgraded versions. Rafales to the 'F2' standard, with air-ground capability, will enter service in 2004, with initial operation capability in 2006. This is a pretty horrible procurment strategy. It's basically ... Research a new design Build 13 of them Let the design age for ten years Update the radar software (and possibly uprate the engines) Go into series production Boy, I hope someone in France is regretting not signing onto the Eurofighter deal. Almost anything would be better than the current Rafale situation. The final 198 Rafales for the air force and 35 for the Navy are to be to the final multi-role 'F3' standard, delivered from 2008 onwards. Then, all older Rafales will be upgraded to 'F3' standard. So the entry in production of Rafale is shifted into the future; the Mirage 2000 will serve longer. Some of the delay can be caused by requested modifications (significantly, after the 1991 Gulf War, the French decided that the majority of the Rafales will have a seat for a WSO) but the main motive is probably purely financial, the French budgettary situation isn't very healthy at the moment. But I suspect that this is a pattern we will see more and more in combat aircraft development. The time when an air force could afford to buy models with limited capability and put them in stock or upgrade them afterwards, is past. BTW the US armed forces, with the exception of the Navy, didn't have anything to fight with in 1941, let alone 1939. Look it up. True. On the other hand the US Congress actually refused to sell weapons to Britain and France at a very critical moment. -- Emmanuel Gustin Emmanuel.Gustin -rem@ve- skynet dot be Flying Guns Page: http://users.skynet.be/Emmanuel.Gustin/ |
#25
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I don't think it is just in defense procurement. In nearly all aspects
of corporate life. Though with a shorter horizon. Thomas Schoene wrote: Please note that my skepticism has nothing to do with France or Rafale in particular.* It's just the nature of defense procurement worldwide that anything in the outyears, especially past five years, is always subject to change. To assume anything past the current five-year budget cycle for any military is a certainty is unwarranted optimism, IMO. And even the five-year plans are never cast in stone. * Indeed, I'm disgusted by the anti-French bigotry (verging on racism) displayed by some posters here. -- Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail "If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing special about bravery." -- Andy Rooney (attributed) -- AL New anti-terrorism tool, "Fly naked" http://www.alfredivy.per.sg |
#26
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"Charles Talleyrand" wrote in message ... "Paul F Austin" wrote in message ... "WaltBJ" wrote IS the Rafale dead? Nobody answered the question. BTW the US armed forces, with the exception of the Navy, didn't have anything to fight with in 1941, let alone 1939. Look it up. It's not dead but it is very ill, for lack of foreign military sales. France alone can't manage Rafale procurement at a rate that would give them a viable force in reasonable time, not when she is funding the A400M, a new carrier, procurement of the fourth Triomphant.. All those things are also in competition with social security funding as the French population ages. It seems very unlikely that the Rafale will *ever* have a foreign military sale. The best chance is 25 years from now when France wants to upgrade, and the planes are both used and cheap. Or maybe politics can force someone like Taiwan to buy them (but I doubt it). In the case of Taiwan, politics are what would prevent any possible sale of Rafale. IIRC the French said "uncle" after their last sale of Mirage 2000's to Taiwan (back when the US was reluctant to provide the F-16) provoked the ire of the PRC. ISTR France decided then to promise not to sell further advanced weapons to Taiwan lest they lose out on (potentially) more lucrative sales of goods to the PRC. Seriously, it's hard to imagine the nation that would pick the Rafale when the Typhoon and the F-16/18 are available. I suspect that part of Rafale's problem is the perception (mostly unjustified) of lukewarm interest in it from the French forces themselves, which is really more of a budgeting problem. It is not a bad airplane, but the sluggish pace of development, coupled with past overly-optimistic and premature pronouncements regarding its capabilities (i.e., trying to sell it as a first-rate multi-role platform when it was still just emerging as a single role performer) during sales attempts to various nations, have repeatedly left it in the "also ran" category. Add to that the fact that a couple of the nations where it has been marketed were more interested in acheiving/maintaining interoperability with US forces than they were with French forces. I'd guess that Brazil was their best hope for an export sale, but last I heard that competition has again been delayed due to money concerns. There has been some high-level talk in the recent past of India entering into a coproduction deal with Dassault on the Mirage 2000-9. If you take the recent reports of Indian dissatisfaction with the Su-30 into account, and the potential impact upon plans to coproduce those aircraft in India, the possibility of the Indians changing horses midstream and maybe looking at Rafale as its premier future platform is a bit intriguing--rather unlikely as of yet, but still... Brooks |
#27
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nemo wrote:
Your stuborness... Let's see. You call yourself "nemo". That must be from a brightly colored fish that flaunts itself and then yells help and retreats from danger to the arms of a sea anemone for protection. Um, that sounds french. It sure isn't a fictional submarine captain with some ethics. As, that wouldn't be french. -- Jim carry on ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups ---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =--- |
#28
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Okay with you,it often happens like that...
But in this particular case,I don't think it will be. Relations between the govt and Dassault are very special in France.Most of the time (everytime), the initial number of fighters ordered have been purchased to the last one;Mirage 2000,F.1,III,and even more in some cases. It is not rare that the budget changes everything as years go by,in France like anywhere else.But very rare for Dassault. The reduction from +/-320 to +/-285 has already been made.Dassault refused to reduce it more because of the unit cost, threatning to abandon the program...What I think S.Dassault could have done.He has received all the guarantees that the number won't be lowered.And it won't be unless a very strong economic crisis. Still,the Armée de l'Air needs them,and the Marine seems to need even more of them if its new carrier is larger than the CDG,and it could be. (Thank you for the precisions about "France bashing",it is useful here... and sorry for my english...!) "Thomas Schoene" a écrit dans le message de news: et... Mike wrote: Those aditionnal 100 are not so speculative. Until they're included in a current budget cycle, I'm inclined to call them speculative. Plenty of planned systems have not been bought under similar situations. Please note that my skepticism has nothing to do with France or Rafale in particular.* It's just the nature of defense procurement worldwide that anything in the outyears, especially past five years, is always subject to change. To assume anything past the current five-year budget cycle for any military is a certainty is unwarranted optimism, IMO. And even the five-year plans are never cast in stone. * Indeed, I'm disgusted by the anti-French bigotry (verging on racism) displayed by some posters here. -- Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail "If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing special about bravery." -- Andy Rooney (attributed) |
#30
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"Jim Herring" a écrit dans le message de news: ... nemo wrote: Your stuborness... Let's see. You call yourself "nemo". That must be from a brightly colored fish that flaunts itself and then yells help and retreats from danger to the arms of a sea anemone for protection. No, that must from the latin "nemo" for "nobody". Um, that sounds french. It sure isn't a fictional submarine captain with some ethics. As, that wouldn't be french. A smartass devoid of any cultural knowledge which has to retreat to cartoon movies to find arguments. Um, that sounds american. Don't worry Jim, I'm sure some day Disney will make a movie which will enable you to learn a few latin words. Cheers from Paris, -- Pierre-Henri Baras ___________________________ French Fleet Air Arm http://www.ffaa.net Encyclopédie de l'Aviation http://www.aviation-fr.info |
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