Free Republic

With national elections looming in India, speculation is growing that contracts for the long-delayed medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), as well as the multi-role tanker transport (MRTT), could soon be signed. However, the MMRCA pact might cover only the supply of 18 Dassault Rafale aircraft from the French production line, leaving further negotiations for the remaining 108 required to be concluded by the new government. India announced its choice of the Rafale in January 2012. But negotiations subsequently stalled over offsets, the transfer of technology and the role of Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL). Delays in procurement are taking a toll on...

PARIS --- While many observers cite technology transfer, prices and performance as being major factors in India’s selection of the Rafale as its next-generation fighter, reality is very different even if these factors obviously did play a significant role. In the same way that it is true that Rafale lost several competitions through no fault of its own, it must be recognized that its victory in India was also won, to a great extent, through no fault of its own. The real reason for its victory is political, and the long memory of Indian politicians was a major contributing factor....

India's Finance Minister referred to the financial aid given by Britain to his country as nothing more than 'peanuts', it is claimed. It is also claimed that Pranab Mukherjee and other Indian ministers tried to reject the money - around £280million a year - from the UK in 2011, but the British Government 'begged' them to take the money. The Sunday Telegraph claims that the Indian government were disposed to reject the money in April last year, because of the 'negative publicity of Indian poverty' highlighted by the aid. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096628/British-foreign-aid-India-tells-Britain-dont-need-peanuts-offer-us.html#ixzz1lWkmhZjq

'Combat aircraft contest not over' Ajai Shukla / Linkoping/ Sweden December 05, 2011, 0:13 IST There are celebrations at Linkoping, the home of the Gripen NG fighter, which is barely two hours from Stockholm in one of Sweden’s ultra-friendly inter-city trains. On Tuesday, the Swiss government announced its selection of the Gripen fighter for the Swiss Air Force, turning away the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Dassault Rafale. “If confirmed, a win in Switzerland (according to the Swiss constitution, this might even require a national referendum) will provide a much-needed boost to Saab's status as a fighter manufacturer, after its Gripen...

Engines and radar to blame for MiG-35 failure in MMRCA contest By Vladimir Karnozov Radar and engine performance shortcomings were to blame for the MiG-35 failing to make the shortlist in India's medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contest. The revelations are contained in feedback from India to Russia's arms export agency, Rosboronexport. The MiG-35's radar, the Zhuk-MAE active electronically scanned array (AESA), from Russia's Phazotron, failed to achieve the required acquisition and tracking ranges. And its Klimov RD-33MK engines also fell short of the Indian performance criteria. Speaking to the media on 3 August, Vladimir Barkovsky, chief of MiG's engineering...

Decoding India's MMRCA Decision Ashley J. Tellis Force, June 3, 2011 India ’s rejection of the F-16IN Super Viper and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in its hotly contested medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA) competition has disappointed many in the United States. Because there were great expectations that New Delhi would leverage this fly-off to cement its strategic partnership with Washington — particularly in the aftermath of the herculean American efforts to consummate the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement — India’s selection of two European platforms, the Eurofighter and the Rafale, as the finalists for the multirole component of its air force...

India's procurement of 126 multi-role combat aircraft has been one of the most eagerly anticipated defense deals in years, and not just because of its US$11 billion value. The selection was always going to be interpreted as an expression of New Delhi's evolving strategic outlook, and to some in Washington, which has built an increasingly close alliance with India driven by a mutual wariness of China, a win for either Boeing or Lockheed Martin, the two US contractors competing for the contract, seemed assured. But the Americans were wrong to think that friendship alone would unlock the door to India's...

Comment: India's MMRCA shortlist backs substance over style When it comes to news value, India's $10 billion medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contest never seems to disappoint. In keeping with this trend, the confirmation of its shortlist for the 126-aircraft deal, which emerged not from its defence ministry but via local bloggers and the defeated bidders themselves, delivered the expected level of drama. US companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin grabbed most of the local headlines at February's Aero India show near Bengaluru by flying a Who's Who-quality list of Indian celebrities, including a Bollywood actor, industrialist Ratan Tata (pictured below)...

India Shifts Allegiance From Russia To Europe May 10, 2011 NEW DELHI — India is slowly shifting its allegiance from its traditional arms suppliers in Russia toward other European firms. The country last month rejected Russia’s bid to sell India its MiG-35 fighter jets in the largest arms tender of this century. India also declined Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s bids for the $11 billion Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft contract. The final contenders to deliver 126 jets are the Rafale, made by France’s Dassault Aviation, and the Eurofighter Typhoon. Senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officials say Russia’s Rosoboronexport and MiG design...

Sanjaya Baru: On a wing and a prayer The decision to make India’s choice of fighter jet a purely technical one was, in fact, political. Sanjaya Baru / New Delhi May 02, 2011, 0:28 IST Major and strategically important defence purchases have rarely, if ever, been purely technical decisions. In the 1950s, Jawaharlal Nehru made political choices in opting to seal deals with the British, the Americans and the French. Nehru’s and Indira Gandhi’s switch to the Soviet Union in the early 1960s was a political and strategic decision. In her second stint in the 1980s, she turned westwards to...

Fighter jet rebuff, Roemer exit, signal US-India distance Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN | Apr 28, 2011, 09.58pm IST WASHINGTON: In an alphabet soup of acronyms that spell informal diplomatic tie-ups featuring India, there's the newbie BRICS, the neighbourhood SAARC, the spread-out IBSA, the under-stated BIMSTEC, the formidable ASEAN, and the hoary NAM, not to speak of the various Gs that have nothing to do with spectrum: from G-77 to G-20. But there's one big association that has repeatedly failed to live up to promise for much of this decade: Indo-US. On Thursday, the emerging alliance was dealt a significant blow when...

Eurofighter, Rafale make Indian MMRCA shortlist? Our Bureau Has India downselected Eurofighter Typhoon and the Dassault Rafale for the $ 10 billion MMRCA fighter aircraft procurement project. Informed sources told defenseworld.net that two of the vendors, Eurofighter and Dassault have been invited to the Indian MoD for further discussions on their commercial bids on April 28. The commercial bids are to expire tomorrow. None of the other four bidding vendors have been invited so far for a discussion on the continuation of their bids, the sources said. Defenseworld.net reached two of the four vendors who confirmed that they have not...

US friendship faces ‘St Antony’ test K.P. NAYAR Washington, March 13: Indo-US friendship is facing its biggest test since Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared as Prime Minister 11 years ago that the two countries are “natural allies,” a declaration that was belatedly endorsed by US President Barack Obama. At the bottom of this critical test is the determination by one senior minister in the UPA government to prevent another corruption scandal of the Commonwealth Games, 2G spectrum and the Adarsh variety, which he fears, is embedded in the current state of this friendship. That minister is “Saint Antony”, as defence minister...

US pushes deal, secrecy hitch on IAF screen SUJAN DUTTA New Delhi, Feb. 21: The US’s strong pitch to sell its fighter aircraft to India for an estimated $12 billion has run into a hurdle with the Indian Air Force telling the government that it does not favour the signing of agreements that risk compromising its operational secrecy. Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik said in Yelahanka earlier this month that price negotiations for the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal could start as early as next month and a contract would be signed by September. The setting of a...

AERO INDIA: Boeing comment provokes combat aircraft debate By Craig Hoyle Saab believes its Gripen IN design will make the shortlist in India's medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contest later this year, despite a contrary prediction made by rival bidder Boeing. Speaking at Aero India, Kory Mathews, vice-president F/A-18 and EA-18G programmes for Boeing Military Aircraft, said he believed only three of the current six candidates would make the shortlist, and these would all be twin-engine designs. "That's really a very surprising statement," says Eddy de la Motte, Saab's director Gripen India. "I'm pretty sure there's going to be one...

'For heaven's sake, don't buy Russian MiG-35' Last updated on: February 14, 2011 12:56 IST Aziz Haniffa in Washington, DC For heaven's sake, ultimately whichever aircraft you finally choose, please, please do not buy the Russian MiG-35 is the plea from strategic affairs expert Ashley Tellis to the government of India with regard to the $11 billion deal for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft that the European, Russian and American manufacturers are vying for. Both in his report released recently titled 'Dogfight! India's Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft Decision,' and during the interaction that followed its release, Tellis -- Senior Associate...

Fighter deal bigger: 126 will rise to 260 February 13th, 2011 DC Correspondent Feb. 12: It is already known as the world’s biggest defence import deal in a long time. Now, it transpires, it is even bigger than that. The Indian Air Force is in the market to buy 126 Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) from one of six foreign vendors bidding for the contract. Over time, however, the IAF plans to buy 260 of them, Deccan Chronicle has learnt. That means, what has been talked about as a $10-12 billion deal will eventually fetch the winner of the contract...

The multi-million dollar Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) deal floated by India will not be awarded on political grounds, Defence Minister A K Antony said Wednesday. “There won’t be any political decision on the acquisition of the fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force. No political interference will be there while finalising the deal,” Antony told reports here. He said the final decision in this regard will be based on staff (IAF) evaluation report and user trials. “No other consideration would be there,” he said while addressing the media during the 8th Aero India 2011 in Bangalore. The Minister said...

The Eurofighter consortium is offering India the opportunity to acquire a new version of its Typhoon for use from a future indigenous aircraft carrier, with the first firm details of the proposal having emerged at the show. One of six contenders battling for the Indian air force's 126-aircraft medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal, Eurofighter is here touting the potential of a navalised development which has already been studied in detail in the UK. "If Typhoon wins MMRCA then India will have the indigenous skills to develop a navalised version," says Paul Hopkins, BAE Systems' vice-president business development (air) India....

At a press briefing on the eve of Aero India 2011 here in Bangalore, Saab which is pitching the Gripen fighter jet for the USD 11 billion Air Force Multi-Role Combat Aircraft competition promised Swedish Ministry of Defence official Mr. Hakan Jevrell promised true and full technology transfer. Mr Hakan Jevrell, representing the Swedish government, focused his message on full support, long term co-operation, full and true technology transfer, zero-corruption and high levels of integrity. In addition to Mr. Hakan Jevrell, the press briefing featured Mr. Hakan Bushke, CEO of Saab and Mr. Inderjit Sial who is the country head...