kinda old news........but i'll post...
Flight International 8-14 April 2003
Singapore offered role in rafale work
Country could help to fund export version in return
Dassualt is offering Singapore the option of investing in an
upgraded multirole version of the rafale in an effort to stay in
contention in country's fighter competition.
The French Company is revising its response to last year's request
for information(RFI) to include a proposal for Singapore help fund
enhanced variant in return for a significant share of development
work for local firms and a potential share of revenues from future
export sales, say industry resources.
The aircraft would feature an improved Thales radar, compared to
French air force and navy Rafales, and upgraded avionics.
Dassualt declines to comment on its Singapore campaign, saying it
is bound by a confidentiality claus.
Singapore is expected to downselect from six to three or four
proposals by June and order at least 20 fighters next year.
Pitched against the Rafale are the Boeing F-15 Eagle and F/A-18E/F
Super Hornet, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 60
and Sukhoi Su-35.
Dassualt original RFI submission envisaged significant French
governement financial support, which subsequently fallen through,
forcing the manufacturer to come up with an alternative investment
scheme or drop its proposal of a dedicated export version
altogether.
Under the new proposal, Dassualt, thales and the French DGA
procurement agency would provide development funds alongside a
contribution from the Singapore government.
Dassualt and its partners Thales and engine manufacturer Snecma
have not secured a Rafale export deal, most recent competition loss
being South Korea last year, prompting the French governement to
pull support for the export version. The smaller Singapore
competition is the last near-term export opportunity for the
Rafale.