French Rafale wins dogfight for $10.2 billion defence deal

New Delhi, Jan 31, 2012: Dassault Rafale from France’s stable has knocked out its competitor Eurofighter from consortium of four European nations EADS in a fierce dogfight spanning nearly four years to win the biggest Indian defence deal so far to procure 126 fighter jets for the Indian Air Force (IAF) at a cost upward of Rs. 42,000 crore ($10.2 billion).

The acquisition process that commenced in 2007 climaxed on Tuesday as the twin-engine 4.5 generation fighter aircraft (based on designs of 1980’s) Rafale was declared the lowest bidder, informed sources said.  The aircraft owing to its low signature and high maneuverability can dodge the enemy radars and can strike the enemy hard while remaining elusive.

The two vendors have a long competitive history. And it is a sweet victory for France that had pulled out of the early stages of the Eurofighter project 30 years ago and opted to develop its own fighter jet, the Rafale as a successor to the Mirage. IAF will be the first foreign customer for Rafale and the contract will salvage the fighter jet’s manufacturing line as it facing cuts back home. It is interesting to note that the French were earlier ruled out of the contest for failing to meet certain technical requirements of IAF.

According to sources, the Delhi representatives of the two down-selected contenders – Rafale and Eurofighter were informed about the decision on Tuesday. The lowest bidder has been arrived at by including per unit price and the life cycle cost that would mean the cost of operating the two aircrafts for 40 years or 6,000 hours.

The two were zeroed-in after grueling flight trials that judged six fighter jets in fray – F-16IN and F-18/1A from the US, SAAB Gripen from Sweden, MiG-35 from Russia, Eurofighter and Rafale – on over 660 parameters. The commercial bids of the two aerospace major was opened on November 4.

Now the Defence Ministry’s Contract Negotiation Committee will begin cost negotiations with the Dassault Rafale against the benchmark price finalized by the IAF after a long winding research. The size of the deal is only going to get bigger from the present estimates of $ 10.2 billion owing to the changing foreign exchange rates.

However, the finalization of the deal will take considerable time as Defence Minister AK Antony said the contract will be inked in the next financial year. “Not this financial year. It is a long process. The file has not come to my table,” Antony said in reply to a question about when the deal will be signed.

The aircraft with a weight of 22-24 tons had entered the service in French Air Force in 2004. The multi-role fighter jet can perform air defence, ground attack and reconnaissance missions with ease. Armed with air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, it has the capability of delivering nine tones of bombs and firing a range of missiles including those capable of hitting a ship.

IAF, which is facing rapidly depleting strength of its fighter squadrons, will get its first 18 aircraft in fly-away condition three years after the signing of the contract and the rest 108 will be manufactured in India under license. The 211-page Request for Proposal (RfP) issued by the IAF in 2007 also stipulates that 60 percent of the aircraft’s technology be transferred to India in four phases to give a boost to the indigenous agencies. The tender also makes it mandatory for the winner to re-invest 50 percent of the total value of the deal in the domestic defence and civil aviation market as offsets.