Concerns Rise As Indian Fighter Negotiations Drag On

[vivINDIAN]

NEW DELHI — India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contract with Dassault Aviation is not likely to be signed before April 2014, despite the Indian air force’s (IAF) concerns about maintaining its tactical air deterrent capability.

According to a defense ministry official, with national elections expected sometime in April, it is highly unlikely the multi-billion-dollar contract to buy 126 Rafale fighters will be concluded during India’s current fiscal year, which ends March 31. The program is India’s biggest-ever defense acquisition.

“Negotiations on the MMRCA are still on,” the official tells Aviation Week. “Several issues have been coming up during the contract negotiations with the French firm ... We are still talking. As stated earlier, this is a major deal and we cannot place a timeline on when the deal will be signed.

“We need to consider all issues before finalizing it,” the official continues. “If the deal is delayed until next year, the first aircraft will arrive only in 2017.”

Meanwhile, Indian air force chief Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne has expressed concern over depleted tactical air capability and the delay in signing the MMRCA deal.

“The MMRCA and the first two squadrons of Tejas light combat aircraft are very critical for maintaining our deterrence capability,” he says. “Otherwise, our force-levels will go down rapidly.”

Despite the long delay in finalizing the MMRCA deal, he says, “There is no back-up plan. The MMRCA is the only option, and it is highly doable. We need to sign it by next year... We cannot delay it any further.”

The IAF chief also is concerned about continuing low force-levels. “We are authorized for 42 fighter squadrons but, at present, we are much below that.” Currently, the IAF has a mere 34 fighter squadrons.

The defense ministry official says the induction of Rafales from 2018 will help arrest the depletion of the IAF’s squadron strength, which will go up to 42 squadrons with the planned new inductions, including the Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) by 2025.

However, the long-term plan for co-developing the FGFA with Russia also has been delayed. It is expected to take at least another year to conclude the $11 billion full-design R&D contract for the futuristic fighter, Browne says.

For MMRCA, the defense ministry has been in contract negotiations with Dassault for about 20 months. The technical and commercial evaluation process began in August 2007, with the French Rafale fighter finally emerging as the winner in January 2012.

Under a proposed agreement, the Indian air force will get 18 Rafale aircraft from Dassault Aviation in fly-away condition; the rest would be manufactured by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) under license from the French company.

According to sources close to the negotiations, the primary bone of contention is Dassault’s demand for two separate contracts: One for the 18 aircraft to be built in France and the other for the 108 aircraft, which are be integrated in India by HAL. The defense ministry has rejected this demand, and has conveyed that Dassault will be solely responsible for the entire lot of 126 aircraft, as per the original proposal.

Contract negotiations also have been delayed over issues arising out of the offset provisions, under which Dassault Aviation must reinvest 50% of the deal’s value in the Indian defense sector, through either direct purchases or providing technological know-how.

The French fighters are expected to replace India’s aging MiG-21 fleet from the Soviet era. The Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon became the finalists in April 2011 after India ruled out the Boeing F/A-18, Lockheed Martin F-16, Saab Gripen and United Aircraft Corporation MiG-35.
source : Aviation week

 

[Storm Force]

Get this done please. I'm sick and tired of the doubt

 

[Mitro]

India should focus on development then defense ,Nobody is in the position to start the war with her .
don't spend money on weapons when more then half of the population goes to sleep empty stomach the people who wants this expensive toys had never experience hunger so they are craving for these toys.

 

[surya kiran]

There is only 1 way to sort this out, if DA sticks to its guns. get a meeting with the eurofighter guys to start talking back up. This concept of declaring a winner and then sitting on their bums for 2 years is seriously retarded. You have shortlisted 2 people. get them both on the table. the chap who agrees to all your clauses the fastest at the right price gets the deal.

 

[faithfulguy]

India should focus on development then defense ,Nobody is in the position to start the war with her .
don't spend money on weapons when more then half of the population goes to sleep empty stomach the people who wants this expensive toys had never experience hunger so they are craving for these toys.

Totally agree with you. You are a real patriotic Indian. India needs to take care of its massive poor and hungry instead of buying up all these weapons.

AS for defense, it should decouple procuring weapons from technology. India should just buy weapons while develop its own technology.

 

[kurup]

India should focus on development then defense ,Nobody is in the position to start the war with her .
don't spend money on weapons when more then half of the population goes to sleep empty stomach the people who wants this expensive toys had never experience hunger so they are craving for these toys.

Nobody comes to war with us because we have these toys . Not the other way around .

Had we been a pacifist country with minimal power , our war-mongering and land hungry neighbors would not have spared anytime to attack us and capture our territory .

A Country without a strong defense is at the mercy of any aggressor .

India should focus on development then defense ,Nobody is in the position to start the war with her .
don't spend money on weapons when more then half of the population goes to sleep empty stomach the people who wants this expensive toys had never experience hunger so they are craving for these toys.

Nobody comes to war with us because we have these toys . Not the other way around .

Had we been a pacifist country with minimal power , our war-mongering and land hungry neighbors would not have spared anytime to attack us and capture our territory .

A Country without a strong defense is at the mercy of any aggressor .

 

[Lightningbolt]

India should focus on development then defense ,Nobody is in the position to start the war with her .
don't spend money on weapons when more then half of the population goes to sleep empty stomach the people who wants this expensive toys had never experience hunger so they are craving for these toys.

Yup, economic development should be the first priority for a country that is as poor as India. India has too many imaginary enemies and wasting money on weapons they will never use.

 

[Mitro]

its very urgent for indian politician to make life easy for common people by providing basic things like toilet,health service ,electricity ,education and ofcourse food.

its very shameful of people who's belly is full and demanding these expensive toys from foreign country when only few percentage of that deal if used properly can change people life .

which immediate neighbor india is afraid of when you are the second biggest army with more then 700 fighter aircraft and big navy.

when india is going to focus on his subject which is living below sub sahara condition this country is so bless with food and all minerals but still people are malnourished .

Totally agree with you. You are a real patriotic Indian. India needs to take care of its massive poor and hungry instead of buying up all these weapons.

AS for defense, it should decouple procuring weapons from technology. India should just buy weapons while develop its own technology.

 

[Mitro]

Indian politician should put its common people their first priority and focus on its development .Unfortunately we never had any politician except moraji desai who think of people first then themselves .they cannot make commission if they don't buy these expensive toys.

You are absolutely right about imaginary enemies

Yup, economic development should be the first priority for a country that is as poor as India. India has too many imaginary enemies and wasting money on weapons they will never use.

 

[India_rocks]

Totally agree with you. You are a real patriotic Indian. India needs to take care of its massive poor and hungry instead of buying up all these weapons.

AS for defense, it should decouple procuring weapons from technology. India should just buy weapons while develop its own technology.

I completely agree with you but the to catch up or get ahead with Pakistan (not China) we have to do it. . . and yeah we cannot always rely on foreign technology we need have our own toys as well. . .

 

[INDIC]

Totally agree with you. You are a real patriotic Indian. India needs to take care of its massive poor and hungry instead of buying up all these weapons.

Do you want me to tell you the condition of China when it became a nuclear power. China tested atom bomb after the death of 45 million people due to hunger.

 

[Mitro]

so iwhat you are saying is true then nepal,bangladesh,bhutan,srilanka,maldives will be having allien technology so everybody is afraid of them .
weapon will never protect a nation only its people will.
what i am saying spend money in development of indian am i asking too much.we are in 21st century more then fifty percent living below poverty line malnourished even below sub sahara countries.
what is the point of development when our own brother-ens are sleeping hungry have you slept hungry no because we are fortunate few .

I hate Modi but he is talking sense "Pehle sochalay phir devalay"
i hope if he wins he keep his word.

Nobody comes to war with us because we have these toys . Not the other way around .

Had we been a pacifist country with minimal power , our war-mongering and land hungry neighbors would not have spared anytime to attack us and capture our territory .

A Country without a strong defense is at the mercy of any aggressor .

 

[INDIC]

so iwhat you are saying is true then nepal,bangladesh,bhutan,srilanka,maldives will be having allien technology so everybody is afraid of them .
weapon will never protect a nation only its people will.
what i am saying spend money in development of indian am i asking too much.we are in 21st century more then fifty percent living below poverty line malnourished even below sub sahara countries.
what is the point of development when our own brother-ens are sleeping hungry have you slept hungry no because we are fortunate few .

I hate Modi but he is talking sense "Pehle sochalay phir devalay"
i hope if he wins he keep his word.

No, just Pakistan and China to protect our territories. After fighting number of wars with two neighbours, only an ignorant will think of keeping minimum defence spending.

India's defence spending too is still very low and poors are getting their cheap food, India is faring better in reducing poverty.

 

[chhota bheem]

so iwhat you are saying is true then nepal,bangladesh,bhutan,srilanka,maldives will be having allien technology so everybody is afraid of them .
weapon will never protect a nation only its people will.
what i am saying spend money in development of indian am i asking too much.we are in 21st century more then fifty percent living below poverty line malnourished even below sub sahara countries.
what is the point of development when our own brother-ens are sleeping hungry have you slept hungry no because we are fortunate few .

I hate Modi but he is talking sense "Pehle sochalay phir devalay"
i hope if he wins he keep his word.[/I]

I understand your concern the money could have been used to feed the poor....you have a misconception that people who go hungry is because gov dsnt hve money to spend for....as per gov own report for every rupee spent on poor only 16 paisa reaches the needy.all the gove has to do is make sure the money spent reaches the benificiary in full..... So your thinking regarding defence spending is wrong.

 

[Mitro]

Small country like pakistan is deep inside some of indian which gives them epilepsy fits.pakistan is in no position for war and china is economic giant, china will only fight economical war not physical war so we have to get ready for that by improving infrastructure and training man power and bring prosperity to common people .

Poor are getting more poorer and going hungry day by day when our food godowns are full and rotting grains with pesticide not even animal can eat it.

No, just Pakistan and China to protect our territories. After fighting number of wars with two neighbours, only an ignorant will think of keeping minimum defence spending.

India's defence spending too is still very low and poors are getting their cheap food, India is faring better in reducing poverty.