CONNAN
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BY EDITOR AT 8 JULY, 2010, 2:17 AM
BY: TNN
http://idrw.org/?p=2317
The Europeans have launched a fresh counter-offensive to ensure the perceived US influence does not skew the hotly-contested battle to grab the “mother of all defence deals”, the lucrative $10.4 billion project to acquire 126 fighters for IAF.
The defence ministry does proclaim the selection process in the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) project, which has now entered a decisive phase with IAF finalising its technical evaluation report after gruelling field trials of the six foreign fighters in contention, will be “competitive, fair and transparent”.
But it’s also a fact that India is sure to factor in its geo-political considerations while finally choosing the MMRCA winner, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself in the past holding that large defence deals should be leveraged to serve the country’s larger political and diplomatic ends.
With the Americans increasingly cornering a major chunk of the lucrative Indian defence market, the Europeans are obviously apprehensive. Some of them even see the “American hand” behind the last-minute scrapping of virtually-finalised deals like the $1.5 billion one for six Airbus A-330 MRTT mid-air refuellers with European aerospace major EADS.
They do not want the story to be repeated with the MMRCA project, in which Eurofighter Typhoon is pitted against the American F/A-18 `Super Hornet’ (Boeing) and F-16 `Falcon’ (Lockheed Martin), apart from Swedish Gripen (Saab), French Rafale (Dassault) and Russian MiG-35 (United Aircraft Corporation).
“Through Eurofighter, four nations (UK, Germany, Spain and Italy) have come together to enter into a real security and cutting-edge technology partnership with India for the next 20 to 30 years,” said German ambassador Thomas Matussek.
Holding that the “unhappiness” over the cancelled deals had been conveyed to the Indian government, Matussek wondered whether India would like to acquire a fighter which was flying across the border as well, in a clear reference to the US supplying F-16s to Pakistan despite Indian objections.
Added the CEO of EADS military air systems, Bernhard Gerwert, “Our price is the best value for money. Our bid has the full support of the four nations. So, we are not afraid of competition.”
The strong European pitch comes soon after the American undersecretary of defence for policy, Michele Flournoy, strongly advocated “US solutions for India’s defence needs” to further cement the expansive Indo-US strategic partnership.
The inking of the MMRCA project, of course, will still take well over a year. The defence ministry will open the commercial bids only after a shortlist of the fighters is drawn up keeping in mind the field evaluation test and the staff evaluation.
Complex issues like “life-cycle costs” and 50% offsets, among other things, will have to negotiated before the actual contract is signed. So, the race is still very much open.
BY: TNN
http://idrw.org/?p=2317
The Europeans have launched a fresh counter-offensive to ensure the perceived US influence does not skew the hotly-contested battle to grab the “mother of all defence deals”, the lucrative $10.4 billion project to acquire 126 fighters for IAF.
The defence ministry does proclaim the selection process in the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) project, which has now entered a decisive phase with IAF finalising its technical evaluation report after gruelling field trials of the six foreign fighters in contention, will be “competitive, fair and transparent”.
But it’s also a fact that India is sure to factor in its geo-political considerations while finally choosing the MMRCA winner, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself in the past holding that large defence deals should be leveraged to serve the country’s larger political and diplomatic ends.
With the Americans increasingly cornering a major chunk of the lucrative Indian defence market, the Europeans are obviously apprehensive. Some of them even see the “American hand” behind the last-minute scrapping of virtually-finalised deals like the $1.5 billion one for six Airbus A-330 MRTT mid-air refuellers with European aerospace major EADS.
They do not want the story to be repeated with the MMRCA project, in which Eurofighter Typhoon is pitted against the American F/A-18 `Super Hornet’ (Boeing) and F-16 `Falcon’ (Lockheed Martin), apart from Swedish Gripen (Saab), French Rafale (Dassault) and Russian MiG-35 (United Aircraft Corporation).
“Through Eurofighter, four nations (UK, Germany, Spain and Italy) have come together to enter into a real security and cutting-edge technology partnership with India for the next 20 to 30 years,” said German ambassador Thomas Matussek.
Holding that the “unhappiness” over the cancelled deals had been conveyed to the Indian government, Matussek wondered whether India would like to acquire a fighter which was flying across the border as well, in a clear reference to the US supplying F-16s to Pakistan despite Indian objections.
Added the CEO of EADS military air systems, Bernhard Gerwert, “Our price is the best value for money. Our bid has the full support of the four nations. So, we are not afraid of competition.”
The strong European pitch comes soon after the American undersecretary of defence for policy, Michele Flournoy, strongly advocated “US solutions for India’s defence needs” to further cement the expansive Indo-US strategic partnership.
The inking of the MMRCA project, of course, will still take well over a year. The defence ministry will open the commercial bids only after a shortlist of the fighters is drawn up keeping in mind the field evaluation test and the staff evaluation.
Complex issues like “life-cycle costs” and 50% offsets, among other things, will have to negotiated before the actual contract is signed. So, the race is still very much open.
