The 2014 date is what the french ambassador (who is a diplomat sitting in a palace in new delhi) said. This news reflects the gound reality from MDL.
The diplomat's job is to paint a rosy picture about his country, and be a PR executive for his country. He will say anything to pretend that things are all hunky dory, so that his country will keep winning contracts. That's what he gets paid to do.
Meanwhile, from the report, it seems that the MoD failed to grant an extension to the consultants on time, due to which they are packinig their bags and going home, leaving MDL high and dry (so to speak). It happens only in India. Other countries do everything by hook or crook to retain foreign expertise if the country lacks it. China surrpetitiously bought all the soviet aerospace engineers when the Soviet Union collapsed. USA secretly imported the best scientific minds of nazi germany, including the redoubtable von Braun in what was dubbed "Operation Paperclip".
And in India, the ministry worked too slow to sign a few papers, and that means that the foreign experts helping us build a scorrpene have to go back. The central ministries need to be overhauled and revamped, if India has to progress. Not two ways about it.
Let me get this straight......
1. Hulls done (check)
2. Launched (check)
3. By 2014 basic vanilla scorpene ready. (check)
4. Our customised scorpene sexing up(2015-16?)
5. AIP (2016-17?)
Any views guys?