According to "Defense and Security Asia" on July 2nd, previously, India had ordered an additional 26 Rafale M carrier-based fighter jets from France for deployment on the Vikrant aircraft carrier.

The total cost of this batch of aircraft is about $500 million, with a unit price exceeding $190 million, including the complete weapons system and support infrastructure.

According to the agreement, India will receive 22 single-seat combat variants and 4 dual-seat training variants of the Rafale M, with deliveries expected to start before 2028.

This move is seen as an important step for the Indian Navy to move away from the aging MiG-29K carrier-based aircraft and upgrade its carrier air power.

France indeed committed to fulfilling 50% of the local investment obligations, including some components produced in India, but it does not represent full technology transfer. Core systems such as flight control source code remain strictly confidential and are not within the scope of the transfer.

Rafale M

Meanwhile, India hopes to equip these Rafale M fighters with its domestically developed "Uttam" active electronically scanned array radar, which the French company Dassault Aviation firmly opposes.

France refuses to hand over the aircraft's source code, and their reasoning is sound. The core parts of the aircraft system involve sensitive areas such as flight control, fire control, and data links. Any modification could cause instability in the overall platform.

Additionally, France pointed out that this radar system is deeply integrated with the native fire control logic of the Rafale M. Any modifications would affect the coordination of weapon integration and flight control.

Another issue is intellectual property.

France is concerned that if the source code leaks, it might be reverse-engineered by other countries, threatening the entire Rafale user system.

Moreover, France is worried that agreeing to India's proposed partial localization would set a precedent for other buyers to request modifications, damaging the long-term unified maintenance and market value of the Rafale system.

Therefore, regardless of the technical and security guarantees India presents, France has remained firm.

Rafale Fighter

Furthermore, forcibly modifying the radar or electronic systems of the aircraft without the source code indeed carries high technical risks, with the most severe consequence being a crash.

Modern fighter aircraft have highly integrated flight control systems, sensors, and mission computers. If the radar data format, timing, or bandwidth does not match, it could lead to misjudgment in flight control, especially during high-maneuvering situations where it could result in loss of control directly.

Additionally, the fire control system relies on the radar to provide real-time target parameters, such as angle, speed, and distance. Even a slight delay could cause confusion in the missile launch logic.

Another scenario is data bus conflicts. If India forcibly integrates a new radar, it may cause memory overflow or avionics reboot issues, which can be fatal in the air.

The most critical point is that if something goes wrong, India will be unable to debug or repair the system without the source code and will only rely on limited black box data analysis.

Looking at it this way, India's demand for modification seems more like forcing Dassault to open up part of the source code. Naturally, the French side will not allow it because if one of the planes crashes after your modification, whose responsibility is it? Three have already been shot down; another non-combat loss would make my aircraft no longer sellable, right?

Indian Defense Minister with Rafale Fighter

In summary, the core motivation behind India's push for semi-indigenous modifications is to alleviate strategic technological anxiety.

For a long time, the Indian defense industry has always been in a尴尬 position where it buys complete aircraft but wants to modify parts.

Although the "Uttam" radar technology has indeed made progress, inserting it forcefully into a highly mature and source code closed foreign fighter jet platform is inherently unrealistic.

This approach not only fails to achieve true self-reliance but also increases accident risks and maintenance difficulties.

A bigger problem is that this piecemeal self-research cannot bring systematic accumulation.

In contrast, building a fighter jet from scratch that is compatible with its own system is the right path.

India has invested heavily in the AMCA project for years, but due to slow progress and unstable performance, it tries to take the shortcut of installing domestic radar on imported aircraft.

This is precisely a manifestation of technological insecurity.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7522669703282950719/

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