Airbus Enters India's Fighter Jet Race with Upgraded Eurofighter

Airbus is vying for India's massive aircraft procurement deal, offering a dramatically upgraded version of its Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet. India aims to purchase 114 new jets, and Airbus believes the Tranche-5 Typhoon's cutting-edge technology makes it the ideal choice.

This latest iteration of the Eurofighter boasts a powerful AESA radar system, giving pilots unparalleled awareness of the battlefield. The Tranche-5 upgrade also includes updates to the fighter's defensive systems, communications, and pilot interface, designed to boost the pilot's effectiveness in combat.

Airbus is committed to making the Eurofighter a future-proof aircraft. The Tranche-5 model being offered to India incorporates technology developed as part of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) initiative. LTE focuses on advancements in mission systems, pilot interfaces, operational flexibility, and engine performance. These improvements will not only enhance the Eurofighter's capabilities but also position it to play a key role in Europe's Future Combat Air System (FCAS).

Beyond technology, the Eurofighter packs a punch. The proposed Indian model will carry a fearsome mix of air-to-air missiles like the AMRAAM, ASRAAM, IRIS-T, and AIM-9L, as well as various laser-guided bombs. This versatility means the Typhoon is adaptable to a wide range of missions. It's also capable of flying long distances with external fuel tanks certified for supersonic flight and can be refueled in mid-air for even greater range.

The Eurofighter faces stiff competition in India's procurement process. Previously, the French Rafale fighter won a similar competition based largely on its lower cost. The Rafale's cost-effectiveness stems from its single-nation development, unlike the multinational effort behind the Eurofighter. A recent report highlights how a lack of new orders for the Eurofighter could jeopardize the jet's long-term production. Airbus is keen to secure this Indian contract to ensure the future of this potent warplane.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a technologically sophisticated aircraft with proven combat experience. With its advanced technology, focus on future development, and powerful weapons systems, the Typhoon is a serious contender to be India's next-generation fighter jet.

 

[Pink Panther]

Only thing it should have over Rafale is GaN based AESA Radar , and Integrating Third party and Indigenous weapons on Eurofighter.selling Fighter is One Time profit But Real profit Hide in weapon package so India should make Clause not only Indigenous But Third party weapon Integration on who ever wins the MRFA Race.But Lastly it is Multination so its is Going against it Single Nation Fighter should b preferred any Time .

atleast it is much faster than Rafale, but it is a headache dealing with many Countries and in case of war with China or Pakistan there is a possibility of denial of spares, all these Countries involved are staunch supporters of China and secret admirers of Pakistan including France, so the best option is to cancel MRFA and go with MK2, if there are further delays in MK2 then MRFA is the only option and in this case we might have to go with the OEM who offers access to source code to integrate Indian Missiles and offers the jet immediately at a low cost.

 

[Akshat]

Mrfa in today's time has no value, it will only eat away a huge amount of funds which should be invested in indian projects. Rather give pli to Indian private companies to set up another assembly line for tejasmk2, tedbf ,amca. Tejas mk2 first prototype timely rollout is very important for that,otherwise import lobby will push for mrfa. Because mrfa will only be pushed heavily if enough numbers are not fulfilled on time. Lets invest those money for super sukhoi upgrade, for gtre and its engine division's demand for a testbed, refuelling aircrafts in nos, awacs, awecs in nos which are dwindling projects because of costs. We are getting almost 200 tejasmk1a at the same value of 36 rafales.mirage,jaguar,mig29s should all be filled up by mk2 and even if demands for extra aircrafts arise we can fill up it with a pretty capable, rafale like ,cheap, more than 90%indigenised version of tejas mk2.even if we sign today for mrfa which i doubt will not happen before 2025 will take 3 years minimum to set up an assembly plant, at the same time mk2 will be induction ready.

If there is a huge need for 2 front war scenarios maybe 36 more gtg deal , not more than that. Invest those money into rnd, involve private sectors with pli, design transport aircrafts with consultations from bae/boeing, japan or embraer. These projects will help us save money for much more projects in future. Iaf needs to believe.

How can the government clear it five years back, when ADA asked for funds only last year? In fact, they asked for funds in April. That means budget was already passed and government allocated funds from emergency funds. So no, only ADA and DOSUs are to be blamed here. Look at Tejas trainers or mk1 a or Tejas mk2. All delayed purely because of DRDO/DPSUs.

200 Tejas mk1a for the cost of 36 Rafale???? Where did you get that vague idea from? Even after ToT, offsets and ISE, full infra and weapons package, 36 Rafale’s came for 7.8 billion USD.

97 Tejas mk1a, with no weapons and excluding R&D costs and with ~50-60 % indigenous components (similar to offset amount of Rafale), will cost us over 8 billion USD. So not even in the same range.

Also, timely roll out of Mk2 is not possible as the time was August 2022. So time has already been missed by HAL.

 

[Akshat]

Obviously the tender is still open but this tender has been open for a long time. The government is not going to spend over 20 billion for another 112 jets because they still have a lot more they need to order ranging from basic and intermediate trainers, tejas 1, tejas 2, AMCA, Sukhoi upgrade, Archer NG, attack helicopters, IMRH, air tankers, AWACS, BVRAAM, MR-SAM, Akash, Swarm drones, surveillance drones etc etc. If the government went for the MRFA deal then we would have to cut back over half of the weapons and quantity we need to order.

So you are saying the tender is open for time pass?

 

[Out_for_vendetta]

Block 5 Euro fighter is the most advanced 4.5 gen plane on the planet, why would they kick it out??

its availability rate was about 50% as declared by the Brits themselves. So yeah, no thanks

 

[Pad UwU]

Wow never knew this would might be a chance to comeback LMAO Indiantyphoon tranche 5 version sounds good... India should make a clause in the MRFA procurement deal to insist that Airbus and BAE systems make a production company here for it to minimize the price and can become a maintenance hub in Asia...😺
Plus another clause deal that if whatever India is on war with China nor Pakistan there should be a exemption against India to procure more aircraft, weapons and parts

 

[Pad UwU]

US has a greater hold on Germany and UK when it comes to sanctions then it has on France. But as of now the whole MRFA is in question.

LMAO how can you be so sure that US has a mandate on UK and Germany for the typhoon 🤭🙃

 

[Pad UwU]

its availability rate was about 50% as declared by the Brits themselves. So yeah, no thanks

That's because UK is not upgrading on new version standard that's why their old tranche 1 and 2 are mostly out of order availability 😹😹😹😹 get your comment correct bruh...
To be honest UK got lazy to buy more parts and new version of eurotyphoon, main reason is peacetime and no total all out war

 

[Pad UwU]

Spending 25 billion on MRFA project can India afford instead going for another 54 advance version of Rafale aircrafts would be better & keep adding more advance Tejas version as last order for Rafale by UAE cost them 18 billions for 80 aircrafts coming to nearly 1880 crore per aircraft & as per some estimates building them in India can be more expensive than importing than IAF should insist on asking France to import more parts for building Rafale from India government should concentrate more on advance radar for detecting stealth aircrafts & more air defence systems which we can see from Ukraine & Israel wars

$18 billion includes weapons package, training, parts and maintenance, and many more LMAO your comment is deceiving and fake news bruh😹😹😹

 

[Pad UwU]

I am OK with Airbus winning it and Tata building the planes. On one condition. Airbus must also help us build the TEDBF. ADA always needs 20 years to develop anything. We don't have the time. Hence, force Airbus to help us with TEDBF.

Bruh they are not obligated to help TATA when the Eurotyphoon consortium has no benefits from the deal of MRFA TATA riding back 😹😹😹

 

[Pad UwU]

I still suggest that we sell SU 30MKi, Mig 29K, UPG to Russia. Russians need airplanes.

They have their own production line that produce more advance version LMAO 😹😹😹

 

[Sandeep]

So you are saying the tender is open for time pass?

I’m saying the tender is open as a backup at the very least and mostly to keep our good relationship with foreign countries happy. With Tejas 1 had its flight we scrapped the single engine fighter straight away and they will do the same when Tejas 2 will take flight and the technology is proven. Thinking strategically it suits us to focus on our own indigenous products than spending over $20 billion where we can easily manufacture around 400 Tejas MK2 and more.

 

[desigandu]

MRFA is a joke for India - either we sign it in 2025, or just junk it and buy off the shelf Rafales (72) and F-35As (72)...Yes we can get the F-35s if we ask well, promise the Americans and ensure they are insulated from the S-400s...Getting stealth jets by 2030 with F-35s and having our own AMCA operational by 2035 will be formidable...Our future carriers (65000 Ton+ with nuclear propulsion) and LPDs could also fly the F-35 Bs/Cs...Question is how much can the IAF wait for this multi-decade MRFA debacle.

 

[Akshat]

I’m saying the tender is open as a backup at the very least and mostly to keep our good relationship with foreign countries happy. With Tejas 1 had its flight we scrapped the single engine fighter straight away and they will do the same when Tejas 2 will take flight and the technology is proven. Thinking strategically it suits us to focus on our own indigenous products than spending over $20 billion where we can easily manufacture around 400 Tejas MK2 and more.

Again the same B S. Was RFI issued for SEF? So how can it be cancelled?

And easily manufacture? HAL will take at least 50 years to make those many mk2. They can’t even make 8 trainers in a whole year and you are talking about ‘easily’ manufacturing 400 mk2? What substance are you high on?

 

[Rational Guy]

Block 5 Euro fighter is the most advanced 4.5 gen plane on the planet, why would they kick it out??

Too many countries working on eurofighter project India will need to negotiate with many countries to source parts and stuff

 

[Pink Panther]

US has a greater hold on Germany and UK when it comes to sanctions then it has on France. But as of now the whole MRFA is in question.

France too, it is no different from UK or Germany.

 

[Pink Panther]

Dont worry MRFA will hapen may Late , India need A Fighter jet under MRFA & Most Likely Rafale may b Winner.

We don't have $45Bln for 114 Rafale's.

 

[Sunnyj]

EF has better and more weapons, can fly higher and faster, better targeting pod. Rafale is more agile, cheaper both in price and operating costs, single country vendor, AC variant available.Both are stupidly expensive so my choice is Tejas mk1a, mk2, Super Sukhoi, maybe Mighty Mig??

 

[Pink Panther]

Block 5 Euro fighter is the most advanced 4.5 gen plane on the planet, why would they kick it out??

Rafale and Typhoon are the most expensive 4th gen foreign jets to operate and maintain.

 

[Pink Panther]

That's because UK is not upgrading on new version standard that's why their old tranche 1 and 2 are mostly out of order availability 😹😹😹😹 get your comment correct bruh...
To be honest UK got lazy to buy more parts and new version of eurotyphoon, main reason is peacetime and no total all out war

They neither want to upgrade them or give them to Ukraine.

 

[Pink Panther]

Too many countries working on eurofighter project India will need to negotiate with many countries to source parts and stuff

Typhoon should be the first one to kickout and Rafale the second one, they both cost a fortune to buy and to operate, both won’t give access to the source code to integrate Indian weapons.

 

[Pink Panther]

Spending 25 billion on MRFA project can India afford instead going for another 54 advance version of Rafale aircrafts would be better & keep adding more advance Tejas version as last order for Rafale by UAE cost them 18 billions for 80 aircrafts coming to nearly 1880 crore per aircraft & as per some estimates building them in India can be more expensive than importing than IAF should insist on asking France to import more parts for building Rafale from India government should concentrate more on advance radar for detecting stealth aircrafts & more air defence systems which we can see from Ukraine & Israel wars

54 would cost $20Bln., why waste so much money on a 4th gen platform.

 

[Pink Panther]

Well if you remove the weapons and some of the other elements, I think we can get the plain Rafales and the infrastructure for 150 million dollars or less. Not too bad, considering we are paying 73 million USD for Tejas mk1a itself,

But we can’t wait for 15 Years, world is moving towards WW3, Serbia ordered 12 Rafales yesterday, so the backlog now is 312 and many more countries will order before we decide to order, we can’t wait another 25 years for a 4th gen jet, so Tejas MK2 is the only viable option for us if it is not a urgent 5th gen aircraft procurement due to increased threat level, also I don’t France will make Rafales in India when there is severe joblessness in France due to bad economy.

 

[Sandeep]

Again the same B S. Was RFI issued for SEF? So how can it be cancelled?

And easily manufacture? HAL will take at least 50 years to make those many mk2. They can’t even make 8 trainers in a whole year and you are talking about ‘easily’ manufacturing 400 mk2? What substance are you high on?

Again the government had a competition on the single engine fighter and had already issued its RFI with a foreign company. As soon as Tejas 1 was flying and its technology matured then it was scrapped.

Again you seem to think that HAL has to be the only manufacturer of Tejas 1. The government can issue a license to several private sector companies who can make it as well to boost the numbers. Also I’m talking about the price comparison on the number of jets that we can make at a cheaper cost than a foreign expensive jet program.

 

[Pad UwU]

They neither want to upgrade them or give them to Ukraine.

The UK government upgrade the still newer one that can be upgradable into tranche 3 if my memory serves me right...the other older ones are in storage maybe for cannibalizing parts... That's why 50% of their fleets is not available.... If hunch is right they are full throttling all the way into 6gen aircraft because ie if GCAP(let's say minimum of $100m) maircraft acts a mother's of f35($65~120m a piece) with a bunch of GCAP drones ( $15~25m a pice) carrier missile that have capabilities of and mini AWACS, a electronic warfare growler like... Would a scary especially GCAP member UK is also pushing a AI co pilot and semi/full autonomous ability.... If they successfully develop and manufacture in in 2035 that would be a game changer against pseudo/full 5gen and 4/4.5gen in pricing, maintenance, capabilities and manpower...

To be honest they will never donate typhoons to Ukraine... Mostly Ukrainian can speak or understand English quietly. 2nd the interface of typhoon is different from the ones they been use to like the migs and sukhois... Training them with typhoon would be a waste of time and would make Russian happy seeing Zelensky smaller manpower 😹😹😹😹

 

[Anant]

They neither want to upgrade them or give them to Ukraine.

The reason they aren't handing over the Typhoon to Ukraine is the same as the reason why France isn't sending the Mirage 2000. Both Air Forces are already short of jets, and while older jets can theoretically be sent, both types are only operated by relatively few nations, and developing the infrastructure to operate such a small number of jets may not be feasible for Ukraine presently.

Do remember that France has decided not to transfer ex-UAE Mirage 2000s to Ukraine (which they planned to do by purchasing them once the UAE started retiring them in 2026 or so). Instead, they have green-lit the transfer of 30 aircraft to Morocco, and are considering green-lighting the transfer another 26 to Egypt, which leaves just 3 in the UAEAF inventory.