Panaji: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India will buy 36 Rafale jets from France in fly-away condition soon, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday said that the country has finally broken the ice over the deal which had been pending for the last 17 years.
The deal struck with France will bring some relief to the Indian Air Force into which they will be inducted within two years, Parrikar said. He further hailed the deal to buy Rafale jets from France as a “great decision taken on the terms and conditions that are better”.
“Indian Air Force will get minimum oxygen (relief) it required with this deal…In fact we have not purchased any major new generation aircraft in (last) 17 years. Procuring 36 planes for two squadrons is an extremely positive decision which was needed,” Parrikar told a news agency here.
Modi had yesterday said in Paris that India will buy 36 Rafale fighter jets in flyaway condition from France at the earliest by “keeping in view the critical operational necessity of fighter aircraft in India.”
Experts feel that time may be needed for further price negotiations and refitting the aircraft in tune with Indian requirements. While the government-to-government negotiations may have ended, the forces may have to fine-tune the deal with the manufacturers Dassault.
Parrikar said after the initial purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft, the country will have more such planes under “Make in India initiative or Rafale kind of mechanism.” The minister said Rafale is the fourth generation aircraft which will add up to the old generation fighter planes like MiG21, MiG27 and Su30 which are currently with India.
“We have old generation aircraft which are upgraded and with limited life. In fact, MiG 21 is at the fag end of its life,” he added. The Defence Minister said Rafale’s induction into the IAF may take two years “as ‘fly away’ does not mean we will get them tomorrow”.
“It has to be designed as per India’s need,” Parrikar said, adding negotiations will be held over their pricing, which are currently valued at Rs 700 crore.
“We need some lighter type of single-engine kind of aircraft, but we also need deep penetration double-engine aircraft which has latest technology and other equipment which can give India a decisive edge over its traditional enemies,” the minister said.
The Indian Air Force had shortlisted Rafale for induction into its frontline combat fleet, replacing the ageing Soviet-era MiG-21 squadron but the deal did not materialise for long.
The original deal, with an estimated cost of USD 20 billion, was for delivery of 126 fighters, including 18 off-the-shelf by Dassault, and 108 to be manufactured in India under licensed production by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) over time, with 50 percent offset obligations to benefit the domestic aerospace industry.
The IAF opted for the twin-engined Rafale in January 2012 over Eurofighter Typhoon of the European consortium EADS Cassidian after outsmarting F-16 of American Lockheed Martin, F/A-18 of Boeing, MiG-35 of Russian United Aircraft Corp and Swedish SAAB’s Gripen in a global competitive bid floated in August 2007.
Bureau Report
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