http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16809532



I guess in the end money was the main difference.

But besides the cheaper offer, the Indians have been using Mirages for
several years so they are no strangers to French technology.

It's a much needed boost for the Rafale - I'm happy for the French.

Nothing signed yet though, so who knows?

Yeah...but it would be good for us , taxpayers, who heavily took part of the increasing wealth of the Dassault family,to have some relief and that they can make some money on their own with their military branch ! and what about the RN, nothing in view ?

They didn't get the contract yet. They just won the right to get into further exclusive talks.
So, still everything's open somehow...

It's probably the right decision from an Indian perspective and more cost effective. The Typhoon is the better air superiority aircraft, but there is not a lot in it and the Rafale is certainly no slouch either. Rafale is more multi-role oriented and flexible. The IAF also have a lot of SU-30MKI fighters for the air superiority job...which are still more than capable.

Better 'bang for buck', from their position. Rafale is a good aircraft.

I'm actually wondering... they are using MiG-29K for their carrier project. Might be in the future they'll consider naval Rafales.

Something else a friend of mine rightly pointed out: Indians want the aircraft to be able and carry nukes. This is not something any German Eurofighter salesman could have publically boosted off without negative publicity impact.

I'm glad to see Dassault win one. The Mirage III, 5, and 2000-5 are among my personal top favorite jet fighters.

Miao, Cat

<tangent>

This is a lot like what happened with Canada's recent national shipbuilding competition. The Halifax-based Irving yards "won" the contract to build the next fleet of Canadian warships. In truth, what they won was the right to negotiate a contract. Of course, the champagne corks are already popping, bot nevermind the fact that Canada has no real high-end domestic defence industry building the kind of weapons and sensors that go into a modern surface combatant. That means a good chunk of the cash spent on the new ships - maybe even as much as half - will ultimately go to defence companies outside of the country.

</tangent>

Don't worry, they'll build 5 of the world's best ships, sail them on trials, confirm they were great ships, and then scrap them. Rumors will persist for the next 50 years that Canada hid one of those ships, and ultimately, they'll buy cast off American ships from the previous generation.