Shipbucket

I think I misunderstood klag I thought he meant that the Gripen was eliminated from the Air Force competition
the new E/F version will really be a big improvement to an already great aircraft
I doubt Brazil will be willing to fund a Sea Gripen by itself however
by the way Rhade why would naval capabilities affect MRCA, the Eurofighter's naval version is only concept and it made it to the final round, also India had already ordered Mig-29K and is developing Naval Tejas, I do agree with your other points though

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That's easy, they are in the middle of upgrading whole air force. In that case if you will buy the same fighter for air force and naval air force you save a lots of money. The same parts, the same weapons ect: Rafael is both, thats why he probably win MRCA, buy one get one free. Rest is just a elimination process, 3-2-1, Gripen was just first who get out from it.

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Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition!

Rhade I completely agree that make perfect sense and I've thought of that before but why in world have three different naval fighters if they really wanted to keep costs down and build the same fighter for both branches they would have ordered the mig-35 to go along with the mig-29Ks

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Projects:
Zealandia AU
John Company AU
References and feedback is always welcome!

You know ... that's a very good question. Maybe they have too much money or want to please everybody and buy from everyone ? Who knows ...

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Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition!

Here is what happened with the Indians:

The Tejas program is old - it started back over two decades ago, and is just now getting really ramped up. It's main goal is to replace the swarms of MiG-21s that the Indians still have in service. The MiG-29Ks are to get something in service to act as a strike platform, and something better than the Tejas on the carriers while the Rafales are the high end air superiority fighter.

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𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐍𝐄𝐓- 𝑻𝒐 𝑪𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆

India considerd buying Rafales in 2005 or so, I still have that newpaper article somewhere.

They've ordered them, and in a bit of a surprise, the French are allowing the assembly of a rather significant part of the order in India. The Indians are also trying to avoid being reliant on one major supplier for their fighters.

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𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐍𝐄𝐓- 𝑻𝒐 𝑪𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆

wow, okay!

On 31 January 2012, the IAF announced the Rafale as the preferred bidder in the competition. Under the proposed contract, 18 Rafale aircraft will be supplied to the IAF by 2015 in fly-away condition, while the remaining 108 will be manufactured in India under transfer of technology agreements. It is also speculated that at a later stage, India might increase its order by 64 more aircraft. The economic offset for the MMRCA tender was increased to 50% under the DPP 2006. The bidders must confirm the offset details in a separate proposal, to be submitted by 9 June 2008.

The have no choice, if they want to sell Rafale they need to give India plane production lines. For Dassault this contract is "be or not to be", whole world watch this deal and now Rafale will find more buyers. Brazil, Quatar, Kuwait ect:

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Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition!

And I'm sure India considered the fact that the Rafale is carrier capable when they chose it. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an option hidden somewhere in their agreement with the French to convert some of the orders to Rafale Ms in the future if they decide to.