My guess is that Brazil wants a genuine modern multirole fighter, with probably an eye towards replacing their F-5s.  The Rafale is a good choice in that regard.  I don't recall the arrangement with the Mirage 2000, which I would regard as still a superb interceptor; a mixed Mirage/Rafale force would give them an edge on Venezuela.  (Venezuela's Flankers are nothing more than overcompensation by Chavez IMHO; most of his air force still depends on Mirage 5 retreads and F-5s, now that his F-16s have been grounded.)  I thought that the Rafale might have potential of a follow-on to replace the A-4s on the Sao Paulo, but Doggtag (I believe) tells me that the Rafale's a bit too heavy for combat operations off that carrier.

 

At this point, I would say that Brazil's only real rival in South America is Peru, which is operating mostly Russian equipment, and Chile, which just started fielding F-16s to replace their Mirages.  Argentina has potential, but their economy is hurting and they're still depending on ancient A-4s and Mirages.  Colombia's in kind of the same boat, with upgraded Mirages and Kfirs, but both nations really need a newer multirole fighter.  Dassault could do worse to push the Rafale there, and I wonder if that's one of the reasons for the Brazil partnership.

What is the current US position regarding H. Chavez and his foolish behavior ?

We have some news and reports here in France and it seems that the Obama admin (POTUS , Pentagone , NSA) are keeping a good eye on the clown with a sarcastic smile . Is that correct ?

 

Cheers .

gf :

why?  because everyone doesn't leak data as it would destroy the trust between the manufacturer and potential customers.

they would never get a sale in the future from that country or its immediate friends for a long long time - if ever.

there is a bit of a difference between engineering empirical stats and performance stats against an RFT.  eg the materials list you show for Rafale is almost nonsensical as the actual quantum is into double figures.  so, the diagram is in real terms meaningless 

gf :

""I do for some and I'm not saying.

1) because it's treated by the manufacturers as commercial in confidence against the RFT""

 

Of course but please can you give me the proof that you know of , that would prove your status to me (no bad intended) .

 

""2) because some of the requirements directly impact upon mission issues, planning issues, combat vignettes etc...""

 

Obviously , I agree but we are talking about the planned flying hours and landing (I quote) "under a severe usage spectrum" . Can you provide any infos about your SHs ?

 

""3) when other manufacturers appeal against a decision, even they do not get access to the other vendors specific submission vectors.  They get debriefed, but they don't get data""

 

What is your point regarding my questions ?

The rest of your post is sound but it seems to me that  : or 

-1) you know nothing and you can 't answer my questions (no big deal)

-2) you know and you are bluffing

 

Cheers .

I am sorry but I must re-post what I said not long ago because it is of the utmost importance to me :

""What is the current US position regarding H. Chavez and his foolish behavior ?

BW..   Rafale is a  better overall fighter  than the other two contenders  no doubt except SH's strike capability . But she is  vastly overpriced.

Considering the fact the deliveries would start in  2013  and Dassault will  produce only one fighter a month the next 5 years ! you can imagine the overheads and  unit costs.. and the sad thing is that  DASSAULT is ready to give away everything for 36 fighters only !!  including their excellent fly by wire and EW technology  in which Dassault and Thales are very good !  everybody knows that.

20 years ago DASSAULT would say to everyone  demanding the same  ' Fcuk off ' and today they  agree on almost everything ... SAD  almost  pathetic

I wouldn't be so sure that Rafales are vastly overpriced. You have to look at overall cost during the whole planned service life, and according to the Brasilian government Rafale's cheaper than the SH in that regard. I'd love to see the figures but I guess they'll never be made public !

Regarding delivery rate, the manufacturing line has a significant growth margin right now (because it's rather underutilized). IIRC the max production rate without adding another production line is 33 planes/year.

Then apparently a significant fraction of the Brazilian order will be assembled in Brazil.

Dassault's subcontractors were complaining about low rates, no doubt they'll jump on the opportunity to produce more components.

I think everyone's going to gain something in the deal. 

As to the tech transfer, it is a bit annoying in a general sense, but it's become almost unavoidable now. At least Brazil isn't China. And any tech transfer will involve "developed", mature, tech, that is not the cutting-edge of research, so... Dassault and Co will retain an advantage (if they don't sit on their collective ass doing nothing, of course).

Well, I guess we can all start to fantasize about a future Rafale vs Su35 "incident" now :-P 

Sentinel :