BENGALURU, INDIA: India will decide on the fate of a long-delayed deal for 126 Dassault Rafale fighter jets only after March, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said today at the Aero India airshow in Bengaluru.
He declined to say when a final decision was likely on the contract, which was initially worth $12 billion and could go up to $20 billion or Rs. 124,000 crore.
The Rafale was picked in 2012 over rival offers from the United States, Europe and Russia. A final deal has been held up due to a stalemate over a crucial component of the deal. Under the terms of the contract, the winning bidder will supply only 18 of the aircraft directly and the rest will be manufactured in India by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics.
In an interview to NDTV, Eric Trappier, the CEO of Dassault Aviation, said that he expects to close the deal, and denied reports that that the life-cycle cost of the Rafale was higher than its competitors.
"We are more than confident because it's a commitment that the life cycle cost of the Rafale is entirely in line with what we gave in the answer to the RFP (Request for Proposal) and we are totally compliant with the RFP of the government of India," he said in Bengaluru.
The Dassault Rafale, which is the mainstay of the French Air Force and Navy, was selected by the Indian Air Force to meet its requirement for a state of the art multi-role fighter and was placed ahead of the Eurofighter Typhoon (built by a European consortium).Story First Published: February 18, 2015 18:32 IST作者: mm6fan 时间: 2015-2-20 07:22 标题: 好一出宫斗大戏：印度空军司令出面为阵风站台，声称印度空军没有B计划，只想买阵风。 针对有消息说，要再多买40架Su30MKI来替代购买阵风。司令表示，MKI和阵风各有所长，相辅相成，不可互相替代。
BENGALURU: Indian Air Force chief Arup Raha today ruled out buying of more Russian SU-30s in place of French Rafale jets saying the two aircraft complement each other but do not replace the other.
Amid doubts creeping in that talks with Rafale would breakdown, Raha said that his force has no Plan B and was working on only Plan A.
Highlighting that his force has a number of legacy aircraft and their replacements are necessary, Raha said the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) deal, for which Rafale has been shortlisted, needs to be inked in the "quickest possible time because drawdown is true".
Defence sources had said that India could buy more Sukhoi 40s in case the Rafale deal does not happen.
However, Raha said, "MMRCA and Sukhoi-30, the requirements are slightly different. And they have their own capabilities. They complement each other but do not replace each other."
He said that everyone is aware of the drawdown of the combat squadrons of the IAF and stressed that every air force faces obsolescence in its cycle of operations.
"It is not new or specific to Indian Air Force," Raha said addressing journalists here at the Aero India.
He said legacy aircraft of the force like MiG-21 and MiG-27 need to be replaced so that the force can have the required 42 squadrons of combat planes.
Asked about the Rafale fighter jet, he said he would prefer to call it MMRCA.
"Rafale has been selected as L1 (lowest bidder). It is a replacement. It is important that we have the MMRCA and we need to have it in the quickest possible time because drawdown is true," Raha said.
He said MMRCA could fill up the gap in the Air Force, adding that if the deal is inked today, the first squadron will only come in three years and subsequent ones in 5-6 years.
He said the Contract Negotiating Committee is working out the issues in the deal and hoped it would be inked.
Asked if the force has a Plan B in case the deal does not happen, Raha said, "No, we don't have a Plan B as of now. We are only working on Plan A".
Rafale was shortlisted in 2012 by the Ministry of Defence but a final contract is yet to be signed.
As per the RFP (request for proposal) issued in 2007, the first 18 jets are to be imported and the rest 108 manufactured under licence by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).作者: mm6fan 时间: 2015-2-20 07:47 标题: 你放唱罢我登场：HAL主席也出来捍卫HAL的尊严，针对阵风合同谈判卡在HAL制造质量的报道，丫表示HAL在许可生产方面经验丰富，生产了啪啪啪啪云云。顺便还捍卫了下失事的印度国产轻型直升机的质量。 http://www.flightglobal.com/news ... ale-fighter-409235/
AERO INDIA: HAL defends ability to produce Rafale fighter
By: GREG WALDRONBANGALORE Source: 18 hours ago
Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) chairman T Suvarnaraju has hit back at reports that an Indian deal to obtain 126 Dassault Rafale fighters is being held up by French concerns about the Indian manufacturer’s quality standards.
Suvaranraju was addressing the media at the Aero India show in Bengaluru, where local journalists have shown great interest in the Rafale programme and the HAL’s helicopter businesses.
Suvarnaraju stressed his faith in HAL’s products, adding that it produces components and structures for a number of major aircraft types, such as the forward doors for the Airbus A320 and the gun bay doors and wire harnesses for the Boeing F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet. The company has also worked on Boeing’s commercial programmes, including the 737 and 777, he said, and pointed to its long record in license-producing types such as the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, BAE Systems Hawk and Dornier 228.
Nonetheless, Suvarnaraju declines to confirm or deny persistent reports that Dassault is dubious about guaranteeing fighters produced by HAL. Under the original terms of the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) requirement, the first 18 Rafales are to be produced in France, and the subsequent 108 in India by HAL.
asset image
Aaron Chong/Flightglobal
Dassault, which has the largest international presence at the show, also declines to comment on the status of its MMRCA negotiations, which have dragged on for four years following the Rafale’s selection in 2011.
Suvarnaraju also defended the reputation of the company’s Dhruv advanced light helicopter following recent crashes of the type in Ecuador and India. He says the reasons for the incidents are yet to be ascertained.
HAL says it is moving forward with plans for a factory to produce the planned light utility helicopter and naval multi-role helicopter for India's armed forces. The company has secured 610 acres of land in India’s Karnataka province where it will build production facilities with the capability to produce helicopter engines, aerostructures and other systems.
In a separate press conference, Indian air force Air Marshal Arup Raha said that obsolescence in the service’s Mikoyan MiG-21 fleet means that obtaining the Rafale is an urgent priority for the service. He declined to respond to questions about what the air force will do if negotiations over the MMRCA programme between Dassault and India’s defence ministry fall through.作者: 祥瑞御免小白兔 时间: 2015-2-20 08:22
就是几派利益团体撕逼，HAL好样的，一定要挺住作者: szxb1207 时间: 2015-2-20 10:01
不想买就找理由。作者: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 时间: 2015-2-20 18:36 标题: 看到埃及能不花钱买阵风，阿三也想试一下 作者: hswz 时间: 2015-2-20 19:43 标题: 歼十一沈飞国产化 作者: mm6fan 时间: 2015-2-21 16:19 标题: 简氏防务的报道则是：印度空军司令表示：重要的是印度空军迅速拥有一个平台满足MMRCA（中型多用途战机）需求，但没有特别说明，一定是阵风。 http://www.janes.com/article/491 ... VOgI9OiHooM.twitter
India's Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha has added to the prevailing confusion over the purchase of 126 Dassault Rafale fighters by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Addressing a press conference at Aero India 2015 on 19 February, ACM Raha said that to make up for fast depleting fighter numbers it was important for the IAF to swiftly induct a platform for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) requirement, but it did not "specifically" have to be the Rafale.
"It is important we have an MMRCA. I would not say Rafale, but we need to have it [MMRCA] in the quickest possible time," the IAF chief said.
He stated that with the IAF's legacy fighters like MiG-21s and MiG-27s facing retirement during the next five to six years, it was vital for the IAF to acquire new platforms to maintain a force level of 42 fighter squadrons. In recent years this had dropped to 32 squadrons and this number is slated to reduce even further if new platforms were not speedily inducted.
The air chief's remarks, however, further fuelled speculation that the deal for 126 Rafales to meet the MMRCA requirement could well be on the rocks.
The purchase is reportedly deadlocked over Dassault's refusal to take responsibility for the 108 Rafales that the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is to licence produce in accordance with the 2007 MMRCA tender. Eighteen of 126 aircraft are to be acquired in flyaway condition.
ACM Raha said that three of four subcommittees negotiating the Rafale tender had completed their tasks of determining offsets, maintenance support and technology transfer to HAL to licence produce Rafales.
The fourth, the Cost Negotiation Committee (CNC), was still in consultation with Dassault and was yet to submit its report to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), he said.
The stalemate over the CNC's deliberations concerns the escalated contract price - which has reportedly doubled to around USD20 billion - and the standoff between Dassault and the MoD over the licensed production of the fighters.
This impasse prompted Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to say recently that the IAF could acquire additional licence-built Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighters if the Rafale deal fell through.
ACM Raha, however, disagreed with Parrikar and said that additional Su-30s were not an acceptable substitute for the MMRCA requirement.
"They are different types of aircraft and cannot replace each other; they only complement each other," he said.
The ACM also reiterated that there was no alternative for the IAF other than acquiring MMRCA. "There is no plan B [to the MMRCA]," he said.
ACM Raha also admitted that air force capabilities were being affected by delays in the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) programme with Russia and the induction of the locally developed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft.