Posted on 11/12/2011 7:45:23 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
DUBAI: UAE issues shock Eurofighter Typhoon request
By: Craig Hoyle Dubai
France’s long-running campaign to sell up to 60 Dassault Rafales to the United Arab Emirates faces a shock last-minute challenge, with the Eurofighter consortium having been asked to submit a proposal based on its Typhoon combat aircraft.
News of the development broke on the eve of the Dubai air show, where both types are scheduled to take part in the daily flying display.
Sources have confirmed that the UK provided a formal briefing about the Typhoon to UAE officials on 17 October, after being asked to explore how it might meet future fast jet requirements.
© Eurofighter
“We have subsequently received a request for proposal for the potential supply of Typhoon,” the four-nation Eurofighter consortium said in a statement, adding: “we are now working hard to deliver a response.”
Further details about the request, such as the number of aircraft required, or the timeline for a selection decision, have not been revealed.
Both the Rafale and the Typhoon were recently involved in combat action over Libya, flown respectively by the French air force and navy and the UK Royal Air Force. The types are also in the final stage of a massive contest to meet India’s 126-unit medium multi-role combat aircraft requirement. Final bids were opened early this month, with a selection decision possible within the next few weeks.
Dassault is seeking a first export buyer for its “omnirole” Rafale, while the Eurofighter consortium is hoping to build on a customer base which also includes partner nations Germany, Italy and Spain and additional users Austria and Saudi Arabia.
Middle East is no doubt arming up big...one day they will use this stockpiling.
Middle East is no doubt arming up big...one day they will use this stockpiling.
Aye, but on who?
Israel of course...and in doing so will unleash the next world war no doubt.
Note that I do not assume an attack on Israel would succeed.
Indeed, I assume that the failure would inflame internecine warfare.
I can agree with that NV....that they will turn on each other after attacking Israel...assuming many “tribes” will have rallied to the front lines from various clans etc. all known to want the glory and the power it would weld among the muslim nations....they simply see war in a very different way then the rest of the world.
The only certain path the queer-an offers to get to that whorehouse-in-the-sky they call paradise is to die in jihad.
Dubai and the other Gulf states are far more afraid of Iran than Israel - these arms purchases are aimed at deterring Ahmadinejad and the mullahs from any expansion plans.
The mideast status quo was up set by George W Bush. It is a totally different game. Obama et al still insist on the old game but they are the only ones still playing.
The Gulf Cooperation Council is a block of countries that eliminated internal tariff barriers, eliminated border crossing passports and problems for members and enjoys tremendous internal trade. The benefits of trade and business and money trump all the old animosities. A company in Dammam Saudi Arabis can and does have offices in Jebel Ali UAE free trade zone and can and does ship Saudi made products over the roads to UAE (and Qatar and Oman and Kuwait and Bahrain).
The same company can ship into Iraq via Kuwait offices. The day is coming when Iraq will settle enough to be permitted to enter the GCC. The GCC is about the good life and money and trumps Iran.
The GCC and Israel will team up to fight Iran. All though small, the Qatari’s have a good well trained air force. Ditto the Saudis.
When it is over, the old animosities will return but will probably diminished by two way trade opportunities via Jordanian highways.
Then there is Egypt. Egypt will be allowed to join if they come around to admitting the center of the Arab world is Dubai. The Hajj is important but business and trading is more important
Muslims minds are so very twisted via the Koran and their Imams..and ALL which they practice... I have no reason to believe a single one...ever...they simply cannot reason their minds are just plain mush.
BTW...that includes those who claim they are moderates....the teachings are deeply embedded in their psychic....and given the right circumstances will surface and the actions to follow.
The Muslim leadership can only play this for so long...their control of their populace as well...especially in light of communications now getting into even the most remote areas. That alone changes the equation.
You do not understand the power and influence of the business community and the cadre of US and European educated businessmen and industrialists. They hold sway, not the old men.
Those now in their 40’s have enormous influence and are replacing their fathers and uncles in positions of control. They are not Islamic fanatics and are rational in their actions. Your concept of the control of a few is not really valid in the GCC countries.
Osama bin Laden was 44 on 9/11...
So what? he is an outlier. He is not representative of even his own family. Such a statement destroys you argument and indicated the lack of depth of your knowledge
Oh they do play a role...but it is just that..a role...when push comes to shove we’ll see an entirely different story...
Though I may not have a firm grasp on the degree of business control these men have, I have great understanding of the nature of the religion they profess...it is deeply embedded in the most successful and moderate....when the time comes they will act accordingly.
So you see the Gulf Cooperation Council NOT being actually “go-to-war-immediately” when (not if) Israel blows up the Iranian nuclear facilities with their own nuke/bunker-buster?
That is, their immediate saber-swinging and yelling (in public) after the explosion(s) is followed with a simultaneous sigh of relief behind closed doors?
I note parenthetically that the “Arab Spring” revolutionaries that Obama so treasures in Egypt and across the Mediterranean and African coasts are NOT part of this Gulf Cooperation Council of economic semi-realism and development.
Thanks sukhoi-30mki.
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