商业

　　Fighter jets

　　战斗机

　　Bomb bays to Delhi

　　弹舱来到德里

　　India favours France's Dassault

　　印度爱上了法国达索

　　"WE'VE been waiting for this day for 30 years," said Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president,

　　"我们为这一天已经等待了30年"，法国总统尼古拉萨科奇说。

　　on the news this week that India had gone into exclusive negotiations with Dassault Aviation, a French firm, to buy 126 of its Rafale warplanes for $15 billion-20 billion.

　　本周，印度和法国达索航空就印度斥资150~200亿美元购买126架其生产的"阵风"战斗机进入实质性的协商阶段。

　　France has not sold a single Rafale overseas, and until this week the plane's future looked iffy.

　　这是法国第一次为"阵风"找到海外买家，并且直到本周"阵风"的将来看起来都是扑朔迷离的。

　　Shares in Dassault Aviation soared by 18.5%.

　　达索航空的股票应声大涨了18.5%。

　　The loser, ironically, was the Rafale's cousin, the Eurofighter Typhoon, built by a consortium led by EADS, Europe's defence and aerospace champion, which is jointly controlled by Germany and France.

　　讽刺的是，竞争失败的是"阵风"的堂兄弟——欧洲战机公司的"台风"战机，"台风"是由欧洲宇航防务集团（EADS）领导多家企业联合制造的，该战机由德国和法国联合控制。

　　EADS itself owns a 46% stake in Dassault, a legacy of earlier French government meddling, so its own shares inched up on the news.

　　EADS持有达索46%的股份，这是早期法国政府干预达索遗留下来的东西，因此EADS的股票也随着印度购买"阵风"的新闻上涨了一些。

　　Dassault won its exclusive-bidder status by offering the lower price.

　　达索通过低价投标赢得合同。

　　Both European jets had satisfied the technical requirements of the Indian Air Force, which wants zippier planes to guard against China's Chengdu J-10 combat aircraft and Pakistan's ageing American F-16s.

　　两种欧洲的战机都能满足印度空军的技术需求，他们需要反应速度快，能对抗中国成飞的歼-10和巴基斯坦过时的美制F-16s。

　　In tests over the Himalayas and the desert, India had eliminated the F-16 and F/A-18, the Russian MiG-35 and Swedish JAS 39 Gripen from the process during 2009-10.

　　2009-2010期间，印度在喜马拉雅山脉和拉贾斯坦邦的沙漠进行了试飞测试，而后放弃了F-16，F/A-18，俄制米格-35和瑞典制JAS 39鹰狮战机。

　　The capabilities of both the Rafale and the Eurofighter were on display during the Libyan war.

　　"阵风"和"台风"的能力都已经在利比亚战争中显示过了。

　　The Typhoon is the superior air-to-air interceptor.

　　"台风"在空对空的截击方面更有优势。

　　The Rafale switches more easily into a ground-attack mode.

　　"阵风"则在对地攻击模式中更胜一筹。

　　After seeing the Rafale rejected repeatedly over the past decade, by the Netherlands, South Korea, Singapore, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland, the French were desperate to win a contract.

　　在过去的十年中，"阵风"不停的被多个国家所鄙视，包括荷兰、南韩、新加坡、摩洛哥、阿联酋和瑞士，法国人已经对"阵风"能获得合同不报希望。

　　The plane was becoming a costly embarrassment, especially for Mr Sarkozy, who has long promised a sale to Brazil but has nothing to show for his efforts.

　　这种战机已经进了一个昂贵的尴尬境地，特别是对萨科奇来说，他很早就承诺会把这种战机推销给巴西，不过到现在也没有兑现。

　　Some even wondered if the Rafale could survive with France as its only customer.

　　有些人甚至怀疑只有法国这一个客户的"阵风"能否存活下去。

　　Now Dassault must seal the contract with India in a series of detailed negotiations over technology transfer and other conditions.

　　现在达索必须和印度协商敲定合同的一系列细节，包括技术转让和其他的条件。

　　India is known for switching to other bidders before finally signing a contract.

　　众所周知，印度在最后签合同之前都有可能转而选择其他的投标人。

　　"The Indians will now squeeze the French hard," says an executive on the Typhoon side.

　　"印度将和法国人紧紧的联系在一起"，一位"台风"战机的高管说。

　　That said, India has used Dassault's Mirage jets for many years, and last year signed a $2.4 billion deal with Dassault,

　　印度已经使用达索的"幻影"战机很多年了，去年还和达索、泰雷兹（Thales）和欧洲导弹制造商（MBDA）签订了24亿美元的合同来升级其法国战机。

　　Thales and MBDA, two other French defence firms, to upgrade its French planes.

　　泰雷兹和MBDA是法国的两家国防供应商。

　　For the Eurofighter consortium the Indian deal is crucial too.

　　对于欧洲战机联盟，印度这笔交易也是非常关键的。

　　David Cameron, Britain's prime minister, said this week that the Typhoon is "far better" than the Rafale.

　　英国首相大卫 卡梅伦本周说"台风"比"阵风"好多了。

　　Sales of the Typhoon, which went into service in 2004, have disappointed.

　　"台风"从2004年开始销售，但情况一直是令人失望的。

　　The Eurofighter member governments (Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain) have all ordered planes, but only Austria and Saudi Arabia have bought them from outside the group.

　　欧洲战机联盟成员包括德国、英国、意大利和西班牙，这些政府都下单买过"台风"，但是在联盟外，"台风"只卖给了奥地利和沙特阿拉伯这两个国家。

　　Eurofighter may now lower its price to rejoin the bidding for India's contract.

　　欧洲战机联盟现在可能会降低报价，希望重新加入和印度的谈判。

　　It may also offer India the carrot of equal status as a partner in the programme, alongside the four European nations.

　　四个欧盟国家一起合作，并且联盟成为这次交易的伙伴，也许能引导印度进行公平交易。

　　Eurofighter says it will be helped by what is turning out to be a transparent procurement process.

　　欧洲战机联盟说这有助于交易过程更加透明。

　　Whereas previous Indian arms deals have been dogged by accusations of corruption, this one has so far been exemplary, says an executive involved.

　　此前印度的军火交易总是伴随着贪污的指控，这次这样做迄今为止看来都是很规范的，一位参与其中的高管说到。

　　Having opted out of the Eurofighter project in 1985, France's determination to go it alone in defence matters has led to the spectacle of two expensive European combat planes competing for the same big contract.

　　在1985年选择离开欧洲战机联盟项目后，法国决定在国防上独立，这导致了两种昂贵的欧洲战机会为了同一个大合同而竞争的奇怪景象。

　　"Europe should not have two jets fighting each other," says Zafar Khan, a defence-industry analyst at Societe Generale, a French bank. The next generation of European fighter jets, he says, should be a more co-ordinated effort.

　　"欧盟应该有两种战斗机来互相牵制"，一位来自法国兴业银行的国防工业分析师Zafar Khan说，"下一代的欧洲战机应该能更加协调的朝一个方向努力"。