It's going to be the F-15T after all

From MINDEF:

In response to media queries on the status of the SAF's Next Fighter Replacement Programme (NFRP), a spokesperson said that MINDEF is now in the process of seeking final clarifications and contract negotiation with Boeing.

Longer press release from Dassault Aviation:

Rafale edged out in Singapore

Saint-Cloud, September 6, 2005 - At the end of a long selection and evaluation process in which the elimination of the Eurofighter-Typhoon led to a face-off between Dassault Aviation's Rafale and Boeing's F-15, the American vendor prevailed in Singapore.

The Southeast Asian city-state has so far had a single source - American - for its air defense. Given the quality of the Rafale bid and its suitability to the technical and operational criteria of the call for tender, dual sourcing seemed to be a possibility. This hope failed to materialize.

There seem to be two main reasons for this decision:

- the dollar's current weakness is a definite handicap for the economic competitiveness of the French offer;

- America's power might once again bore out the old Chinese proverb: Bamboo always leans the way it's pushed the hardest .

The Rafale is a technical and industrial success, as the operational commissioning of the first planes delivered to the French Armed Forces has shown. Its status of finalist at Singapore proves that it has every chance of becoming an export success.

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