Skip to main content

Direct purchase of 36 fighters will alter original Rafale deal



India will now negotiate direct purchase of 36 Rafale jets from France through a government-to-government deal worth around $4 billion, without any “Make in India” or technology transfer component, to meet IAF’s urgent “critical operational necessity” for new fighters.

After Modi held extensive talks with French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Friday, it was announced that fresh commercial negotiations will now be held for the direct acquisition of two Rafale squadrons (each has 18 jets) in “flyaway” condition.

“France has agreed to fast-track the deliveries and give us better terms for the outright purchase and longer maintenance support for the jets. Finding the money for this contract should not be a problem since it will have to be paid in instalments linked to deliveries,” said a source.The “politico-strategic” decision of negotiating the direct purchase of 36 Rafale jets that was taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi just before he left for Paris on Thursday afternoon, will lead to a “modification” of the original deadlocked $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project for 126 fighters, said sources.As reported by TOI earlier, final negotiations for the MMRCA project — which envisaged direct acquisition of the first 18 jets from France with the remaining 108 being built in India by Hindustan Aeronautics after transfer of technology — have been stalled for over a year now.France, incidentally, has failed to find international customers for its Rafale fighters, except for Egypt which agreed to buy 24 of them in February.

The insurmountable hurdle in the MMRCA negotiations was Dassault’s substantial hike in pricing for the 108 fighters to be produced by HAL as well as its refusal to take “full responsibility” for them. India, in turn, was clear it could not accept a hike in the L-1 (lowest bidder) price provided by Dassault since it had led Rafale to defeat the Eurofighter Typhoon in commercial evaluation in January 2012.Down to just 34 fighter squadrons when at least 44 are required to be comfortable against China and Pakistan, IAF can now hope to get 36 new fighters soon to arrest its fast-eroding air combat power. The defence procurement procedure allows such acquisitions on a single-vendor basis due to “strategic considerations”, both to achieve major diplomatic, political and economic benefits” as well as meet critical operational military necessity.

India, for instance, has inked deals worth over $6 billion with the US for 12 C-130J Super Hercules and 10 C-17 Globemaster-III aircraft on a direct government-to-government basis without any open tender or competition.Concurrently, as reported earlier by TOI, India is trying to fast-track the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft project with Russia. It has asked for the FGFA deliveries to begin 36 months after the contract is inked, instead of the 94 months envisaged earlier.

BJP member Subramanian Swamy on Friday threatened to take legal recourse if the government went ahead with the Rafale deal with France, saying there were shortcomings in the fighter.Swamy, national executive member of BJP, requested PM Narendra Modi not to go ahead with the Rafale deal, which was negotiated by the previous UPA government, and said the performance of the French jet “turned out to be worst of all the aircraft” in Libya and Egypt. “If the PM decides to go ahead with the deal, I will have o option but to approach the court to get it set aside,” he said.


                                                                     SOURCE : http://idrw.org/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LCA vs grippen vs JF-17 vs F-CK-1

  India’s much awaited supersonic fighter jet, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas was inducted into the IAF yesterday. LCA Tejas is India’s first indigenously built light combat aircraft and its induction has highlighted India’s defence aviation and self sufficiency capabilities to the world. We have to wait and watch if LCA TEJAS matches other multirole fighters like Gripen, JF-17  and F-CK-1. So lets go ahead and compare the features of LCA TEJAS with the rest. Lets start with the LCA TEJAS which is a single-seat, single-engine, lightweight, high-agility supersonic fighter aircraft. The LCA TEJAS can speed upto Mach 1.4 and is capable of carrying assorted weapon load along with dropping tanks up to four tons. It has some of the latest avionics and digital flight control systems. The Tejas, presently is powered by American General Electric Engine. The HAL TEJAS is designed with a single vertical fin  with no tailplanes or foreplanes and has a delta wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Eurofighter Typhoon vs Dassault Rafale

Eurofighter Typhoon is one of the worlds most advanced new generation multi-role/swing-role combat aircraft available on the market. With 707 aircraft ordered by six nations (Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), and in service with all nations, the aircraft is Europe’s largest military collaborative program. Eurofighter Typhoon is the only fighter to offer wide-ranging operational capabilities whilst at the same time delivering unparalleled fleet effectiveness. When the RAFALE program was launched, the Armée de l’Air and the Marine Nationale (the French Air Force and the French Navy) published a joint requirement for a balanced multirole aircraft that would be able to replace seven types of combat aircraft then in use. Versatile and best in all categories of missions, the RAFALE is a true “force multiplier” This is what Dassault Aviation says about their pride and joy and it’s really interesting since they put too much emphasis on...
Post a Comment
Read more
SPECTRA (Système de Protection et d’Évitement des Conduites de Tir du Rafale) is a integrated defensive aids suite for Dassault Rafale developed by Thales Group. Modern air warfare pose a different challenge on aircraft self-defense capabilities. SPECTRA provides complete automated system directly integrated into the Rafale. SPECTRA ensures efficient electromagnetic detection, laser warning, IR detection for missile warning, jamming and chaff/flare dispensing, even in the most demanding multi-threats environment. SPECTRA is divided into different modules and sensors strategically positioned throughout the airframe to provide all-round coverage. The latest advances in micro-electronic technology have led to a new system which is much lighter, more compact and less demanding than its ancestors in terms of electrical and cooling powers. All elements of the Thales SPECTRA system are built into the airframe, have high levels of automation and system integration. SPECTRA include...
Post a Comment
Read more