Eurofighter Tranche 2 Provides Rare Comfort to Fighter
Makers
(Source: defense-aerospace.com; published Dec. 6, 2004)
PARIS --- The German Bundestags Dec. 2 approval of the second
batch of Eurofighter combat aircraft should go some ways to
reviving the international combat aircraft market, as attention
should now shift to Singapores Next Fighter Replacement
competition.
While Germany is the first partner country to authorize
Eurofighters Tranche 2, the other three partners (Britain, Italy
and Spain) are expected to follow very shortly. That will clear the
way for award of the actual Tranche 2 production contract, valued
at about 14 billion euros for a total of 236 aircraft, sometime
during the second half of December.
But the most significant consequence of the Tranche 2 contract is
that it will finally allow Britain, acting on behalf of the four
Eurofighter partners, to submit a formal offer to Singapore, where
the Eurofighter is competing against Boeings F-15T and Dassaults
Rafale.
Lord Bach, the British Minister for Defence Procurement, is
expected to travel to Singapore to submit the offer as soon as the
Tranche 2 contract is signed. Eurofighters Tranche 2 standard
includes certain modifications required by Singapore, and until
these are fully funded and contracted the offer cannot be
submitted.
Similar modifications were required by Singapore to the Rafale, and
they are included in the 659 million euro contract for the
aircrafts F3 standard, awarded in February 2004 by the French
ministry of defense. The F3 standard notably includes the
capability to fire the AM-39 Exocet anti-ship missile, which is a
major selling-point to Singapore.
Singapore is initially looking for 20 Next Fighter Replacement
(NFR) aircraft to replace its ageing A-4 Skyhawks and F-5s, but it
is believed that the requirement will ultimately cover as many as
60 aircraft.
Singapore is expected to select a winner sometime in 2005, and this
will be welcome news to manufacturers as other long-running fighter
competitions are becoming even more drawn out than
anticipated.
This is notably the case in Brazil, where after missing several
deadlines for selecting a new F-X fighter the government now
appears to be dithering again in light of the politically weakened
position of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and of continuing
financial difficulties. The BAE Systems/Saab Gripen, the Mirage
2000BR, Lockheed Martins F-16 and the Sukhoi Su-30 are competing
for an initial order of 12 new fighters, and a decision was due to
be announced by year-end. However, local sources say the program
may now be headed for an indefinite postponement, possibly of as
much as three or four years, in which case Brazil would probably
buy a dozen second-hand aircraft as an interim solution.
Some larger fighter contracts are also in doubt. If confirmed, the
news that Greece had decided to cancel its planned buy of 60
Eurofighters and to re-open a new competition in 2005, is a major
blow to Eurofighter, as it has only one other export order, for 18
aircraft from Austria.
The status of the Greek program is not quite clear, however. The
decision to cancel the Eurofighter order no contract had been
signed was widely reported in late November in the Greek press,
which quoted defense ministry sources, but has not been officially
confirmed.
Greece's former socialist government, which lost the general
elections in March, had decided in 2000 to buy 60 Eurofighter jets,
with another 30 on option, but in 2001 delayed delivery due to
budget constraints.
The situation in India also appears confused. For some years, the
Indian air force has been informally negotiating with Dassault to
buy up to 140 additional Mirage 2000 fighters, but has recently
asked BAE/Saab to make an offer for the same number of Gripens. In
addition, Washington has reportedly signaled that it is willing to
supply F-16 fighters, while the Indian air force may find it
attractive to buy additional Sukhoi SU-30s, which Hindustan
Aeronautics Ltd. is already assembling under license, to benefit
from savings in logistics and training.
But the Indian government now appears to be tilting toward running
a formal tender process for the new fighters, rather than direct
negotiations with selected suppliers, and this could substantially
postpone contract signature. There is a degree of urgency, however,
as the MiG-21 and MiG-23/-27 fighters the new aircraft are intended
to replace continue with their alarmingly high attrition rate. As
of Nov. 27th, a total of 157 Indian Air Force pilots had been
killed in MiG crashes, Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently
told Parliament, with an additional 40 civilian victims, so there
is growing public pressure to retire the aircraft.
