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India signs deal with France to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets
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SME Times News Bureau | 24 Sep, 2016
India on Friday signed a Euro 7.87 billion (about Rs 59,000 crore) deal
with France to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets that will meet the Indian Air
Force's critical operational requirement for a multi-role combat
aircraft and enhance its strategic reach, especially in context of arch
rival Pakistan.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his French
counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian signed the inter-government agreement for
purchase of the fighter jets in fly-away condition that are capable of
carrying nuclear weapons.
The deal for fighter jets, which are
equipped with latest missiles and weapon systems, was preceded by tough
negotiations over the price and will cost India about 7.87 billion
euros.
The deal also includes obligations under which the French
industrial suppliers will discharge offsets for 50 percent of the value
of the procurement.
Soon after the deal was signed, Parrikar said in a tweet: "Will significantly improve India's strike and defence capabilities."
The
tough price negotiations led to a delay in the finalisation of the
deal, which covers delivery of 36 planes, spares and weapons. The first
fighter plane agreement in about two decades was inked almost 16 months
after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision to buy the
jets during his visit to France in April last year.
The fighter
plane will be equipped with Meteor, a beyond-visual range air-to-air
missile expected to considerably advance IAF's capability in aerial
combat. Sources said the missile has a range in excess of 150 km and is
of much higher capability than the 80 km range of such weaponry with
Pakistan.
Sources said tht IAF has authorisation for 42 squardons of fighter aircraft but its present strength is less than that.
Rafale
is a multi-role fighter aircraft capable of undertaking all types of
missions with a capability to simultaneously perform both air defence
and ground attack roles in a single mission. It will have features like
advanced electronically scanned array radar, mid-air refuelling and
advanced electronic warfare equipment.
The Rafale fighter jet
would be delivered within the next 36 to 67 months in fly-away condition
along with weapons, training simulator, associated equipment and
Performance Based Logistics(PBL) support. Sources said that the schedule
is better than the delivery schedule proposed earlier by the French
side.
India will purchase 28 single-seater Rafale fighter jets while eight jets will be two-seaters.
The
price of aircraft alone is about 91 million euros each for a single
seater and about 94 million Euros for a two seater aircraft.
The sources said the jets would arrive in India in batches, with the first two coming in the next few months.
India
had decided to ink the deal for 126 Rafale jets in 2012 during the
previous United Progressive Alliance government. The deal was estimated
to cost $10.2 billion and the plan was to acquire 18 aircraft in
fly-away condition and manufacturing the rest in India.
However,
during Modi's visit to France in April last year, India conveyed that
it would like to acquire 36 Rafale jets in fly-away condition as quickly
as possible in view of the IAF's critical operational necessity for the
multi-role combat aircraft.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with France in January this year for the purchase of 36 Rafale.
Sources
said the version of Rafale aircraft supplied to India will have better
operational capabilities than the Rafale being operated by other air
forces in terms of better radar, better detection and survival features
and will have capabilities for operations from higher altitude
airfields.
The maintenance support for 36 Rafale will be
provided through Performance based logistics which also includes
advanced training of three IAF pilots, one engineer and six technicians
by the French Air Force.
The sources said the 36 Rafale procurement supports the 'Make in India' initiative of the government through offsets. Thales,
a technology firm and a member of Rafale team alongside Dassault
aviation, welcomed the signing of the agreement. It said in a release
that the contract will create hundreds of jobs on Thales manufacturing
sites.
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