[nuncEtedben]

yeah, and India wanted the fly-by-wire for sure, since it is getting it in its domestic "light combat aircraft" design as such...that aircraft, btw, is powered by a GE F404 turbine (at least for now, until they get a fix for a domestic design).

Thrust-vectoring comes in handy in WVR situations, which aren't likely in this day... even so, larger fighter-bombers I imagine would be better served by it. The SU-30MKI in Indian service has the thrust vectoring engines, thanks to Russians.


Washington Post article gives a proper analysis of the situation:

U.S. companies bypassed in India fighter jet deal - The Washington Post

“I know that the aircrafts that met all the technical requirements included the American F-16,” said Pushpindar Singh Chopra, an aerospace analyst. However, he added that the Typhoon and Rafale are both new-generation aircrafts, and might come with fewer restrictions than the U.S. government would try to attach to any deal.

“Indian military establishment has some issues with the list of do’s and don’ts that come with American military purchases,” Chopra said. “There are too many checks and reporting that the American government subjects the buyer countries to. This is a bit annoying to Indians.”

Chopra said the reluctance by the United States to include electronic warfare systems in any sale might also have been problematic. “After all, a fighter aircraft is as good as its weapons,” he said. “These probably played a part in the decision, too.”

Defense and nuclear commerce are the big-ticket items in the growing strategic relationship between India and the United States.

But commercial contracts worth billions of dollars that were expected to arise out of the landmark nuclear deal signed in 2008 have yet to materialize, because of disagreement over India’s restrictive domestic nuclear liability law and bureaucratic delays in mandatory assurances that Indian companies will not export American nuclear technology to other countries.

Kanwal Sibal, a former Indian foreign secretary who was once the second-in-command at India’s embassy in Washington, said some U.S. political leaders had viewed the fighter-jet contract as “a test case for deepening strategic relationship and a return-gesture for the nuclear deal between the two nations.”

“The American political leadership had invested a lot of effort into this deal. ... They were openly giving the impression that India was obliged to give this deal to them,” Sibal said.

“India could either have made a political decision to give it to the Americans or go for an open international bid. India chose the latter.”