Dassault Rafale wins India's biggest fighter deal for $10.4 billion

Originally posted by jensy
reply to post by slanteye

 

Britain will sell weapons to anyone, without thinking about it. That's why during the Falkands we found ourselves up against Destroyers which we sold only a few years before.

Jensy

Actually there was only one ship that we encountered that was sold to the Argenineans by the UK, and it didn't really take part in any conflicts as the carrier it was escorting (an ex-WW2 British carrier sold to Norway in the 1940s) stayed home like a frightened school girl.

The second Type 42 destroyer the Argentineans operated was built by them, not us.

The Typ 42 was sold to Argentina before the Junta rose to power.

reply to post by Pervius

With the exception of the F35 and F22, most American aircrafts like the Latest F16s, F15s and F18s are good. Tried and tested in numerous air sorties around the world throughout the last decade. However only the inner circle of friendly/dependent nations like Taiwan, Japan, S Korea, Singapore, UK and Australia can be assured of constant supply of spare parts. Other countries are wary of the possibility of sanctions and inability to procure the spares for the aircrafts purchased which is why American planes are not that sought after compared to the 60s and early 70s. That phrase "you're either with us or against us" is very frightening. Some countries would think along the lines of "we're not with you or against you" so how do you deal with that. Besides...Russia and France also produces great fighter planes.

reply to post by Kutas

It always baffles me when small countries buy the latest high end fighter jets. F18 Super Hornets, SU30s, F15SE and whatnot. What is a dozen of these jets gonna do when it comes to the crunch. With limited funds you do not see much live firing but just flying from one base to another for show. Like the saying goes "all show no go". I hope those missiles can fire when the pilots push the button since they have been hanging on those wings from the day they were purchased. Air time/flight is so limited the pilots are usually not very good and lacking in experience so why invest in such expensive toys. Of course the US, UK, France and Russia don't care as long as you buy. What you do with your toy is your business..right.

reply to post by jensy

Sorry...I was referring to their purchase of front line fighters to compliment their existing naval MiG 29s and SU30MKIs and not the older planes in their inventory. One of the more successful collaboration between the French and UK is the Concord. Other collaborations like the Eurofighter project fell through and the French went on to make the Rafael with a naval version as well. The "Horizon" class frigates also fell through and UK came up with the Type 45 which incidentally looks like the French frigate "Forbin". The French and Italian opted for coastal defence while UK wanted blue ocean capability. Could say the German subs of WW2 taught the Brits that oceanic ships are better than coastal ones.