Rs 3.6 lakh crore military modernisation push
New Delhi: In its largest-ever defence acquisition push, India on Thursday cleared a long-pending proposal to procure 114 Rafale fighter jets under a government-to-government framework with France, nearly two decades after the plan was originally rolled out to boost the Indian Air Force’s combat prowess.
In total, capital acquisition of military hardware worth Rs 3.60 lakh crore including procurement of an additional six US-made Boeing P8-I surveillance aircraft for the Indian Navy, was approved by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Under the Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) project, 18 aircraft will be supplied by Dassault Aviation, the maker of Rafale, in a fly away condition and the rest will be manufactured in India with over 50% indigenous content that will be to be met in phases, sources said.
Though the Defence Ministry did not provide the cost of the procurement, it is expected to be in the range of Rs 2.90 lakh crore to Rs 3.15 lakh crore.
The approval for procurement of the Rafale jets came just four days ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to India.
The Rafale purchase plan is expected to be taken up soon by the Prime Minister-led Cabinet Committee on Security. There is a possibility of India and France inking an inter-governmental pact on the project during Macron’s trip.
However, a formal contract on the deal is unlikely before end of the year as the Defence Ministry will now have to carry out negotiations with Dassault Aviation to finalise the cost and the finer details of the weapons package.
The Rafale jets are capable of carrying a range of potent weapons. European missile maker MBDA’s Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile and Scalp cruise missile will be the mainstay of the weapons package of the Rafale jets.
In April 2019, the Indian Air Force issued an RFI (Request for Information), or initial tender to acquire 114 Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) at a cost of around $18 billion. It was billed as one of the world’s biggest military procurement programmes in recent years. The other contenders for the mega project included Lockheed Martin’s F-21, Boeing’s F/A-18 and the Eurofighter Typhoon.
The move to procure the jets has come at a time when the number of the Indian Air Force’s fighter squadrons has gone down to 31 from officially sanctioned strength of 42.
Nearly 13 years back, the Defence Ministry had completed groundwork for procurement of a fleet of Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA). However, the project did not go through.
In 2015, the Modi government announced a government-to-government framework to procure 36 Rafale fighters in the face of rapidly declining squadron strength of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The NDA government finally inked the deal on September 23, 2016, to procure the jets after a nearly seven-year exercise to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) did not fructify during the UPA regime.
The IAF had begun its hunt for the MMRCA in late 1990s and the RFI for it was floated in 2004. The IAF currently operates the jets. Last year, the Indian Navy sealed a Rs 64,000 crore deal to procure 26 marine variants of the Rafale jet.
Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry inked a Rs 2,312 crore contract with state-run aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to procure eight Dornier aircraft for the the Indian Coast Guard.
Rolls-Royce offers to co-develop aero-engine
New Delhi: A day after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgic on Thursday unveiled a strategic roadmap to scale up the company’s Indian operations across defence, energy and civil aviation domains including plans to co-develop a aero-engine for India’s next-generation combat jets with full intellectual property transfer.
The leading aero-engine maker has been focusing on making India its third “home market” outside of the UK.
“Our ambitions for India are built on the strong foundations of our decades-long presence in the country, our growing footprint, our deep industry partnerships, and our competitively advantaged technologies,” the Rolls-Royce CEO said.
