Of course, but it DOES have huge strategic implications. Mr Hollande made it clear that the Rafale's sale to India was a strategic deal and showcased the Indo-French deepening of ties. After both sides have placed so much emphasis on the Rafale deal specifically (Mr Hollande must have mentioned it 5-6 times during his remarks in the joint press conference with Modi) and the IGA has been announced, no Rafale deal now would be a consdierable dent to all future Indo-French strategic deals. This is a fact.
It's for this reason, I don't see the French backing down now- had the IGA not been signed I could see it but Hollande has put his cards on the table and he is behind the Rafale deal, Russia is going to lose this game and they are going to lose BIG. Think about the diveregence in reporting vis a vis strategic deals with India and Russia/France in the past few months, France has overwhelminginly hogged the limelight with a swathe of strategic deals being clinched, what has Russia got? The Ka-226s? All the hype before Modi's visit to Russia resulted in excatly ZERO strategic deals- no FGFA, no MRTA, no SSN, not even the Talwars.
India is playing Russia and France against each other and it is heading for a conclusion, Russia is now said to have revised (downwards) the FGFA's cost for India and France is still working on the Rafale price.
There's something brewing between India and Russia and it's not going to be pretty, this is a divorce that has been long overdue.
@PARIKRAMA @Levina @Parul @Vauban
TBH even today when i had talked with source and the supply chain folks, the source news seems to suggest India wants to lock in a price with which it can go for first a flyaway deal and second a humongous MII deal.
If you see a basic math, assume the flyaway cost at 700 crs all loaded then its just 700x36 = Rs 25200 Crs or Euro 3.5 Bn
but see this whats the potential here
200 rafales at 550 Crs
200 x550 = Rs 1,10,000 crs or Euro 15.27 Bn
Spares consumed at 5% per year per jet under MII = 5% of 500 instead of 550 = Rs 25 Crs
So for 40 years its 25 x 40 x 200 = 2,00,000 Crs = Euro 27.78 Bn
I am not even considering weapons, training, upgrades etc ect
So take two figures and see how much basically MII pays Dassault, French economy (dassault pays taxes and also emplyees would be constantly exchanged on deputation) , OEMs, Supply chain folks and they paying taxes to French government.
Those 2 figures are 15.27+27.78 = Euro 43 Bn
You add more things and the figure will reach around Euro 50-55 Bn
Now Euro 45 Bn was the whole cost of Rafale development
Thats how strategic it is for everyone.
True we are playing both countries to get the best deal. But fact remains unless someone really does some nasty back stabbing, France should be able to convince Dassault and get them to follow the official line.
Personally i would rather want AMCA to have a not just FGFA tech but also Rafale tech. and for that FGFA if it comes HAL is there. But if Rafale does not come AMCA wont get that tech, reactor tech wont come, Barracuda tech wont come to SSN program, LCA Navy program gets delayed with no one helping us solve under carriage issues ad smart cities, investments and what not...
So its a golden egg laying goose.. don kill it .. simple..