India and France are now trying to swiftly finalize the government-to-government deal for direct acquisition of 36 Rafale fighters, even as the earlier $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project for 126 such jets stands scrapped.
The IAF is pushing for at least 20 additional Rafales over the 36 decided during the Modi-Hollande summit in Paris on April 10.
“It will take another month or so to clinch the new G-to-G deal, which will entail better terms than what was conveyed by Rafale-manufacturer Dassault Aviation during the MMRCA negotiations. Once the deal is finalized, the deliveries of the 36 jets in a flyaway condition will begin in two years,” said an official.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said the Indian and French teams were negotiating the terms and conditions for the 36-jet deal and would recommend a draft agreement.
“The RFP (request for proposal) issued earlier for procurement of 126 MMRCA has been withdrawn. In this multi-vendor procurement case, the Rafale met all the performance characteristics stipulated in the RFP during the evaluation conducted by IAF,” he said.
“The (36) aircraft and associated systems would be delivered on the same configuration as had been tested and approved by the IAF, and with a longer maintenance responsibility by France,” he added.
Under the now-scrapped MMRCA project, which had remained deadlocked after Rafale emerged the winner in January 2012 following a hotly-contested global competition among six vendors, the first 18 jets were to come in “a flyaway condition”. The rest 108 were to be made by Hindustan Aeronautics in India after transfer of technology.
IAF pushes for 20 more Rafale fighters from France | idrw.org
. Eitherbuy none or buy in large numbers
