Race to justify whopping Rafale bill

New Delhi: Cutting through the guns-versus-butter debate, India on Friday signed a cheque for 7.87 billion euros (around Rs 58,800 crore) for its most expensive single military purchase - 36 Rafale fighter jets. The payment will be staggered over six years. If the total cost is to be divided by the number of aircraft contracted the figure would be more than Rs 1,610 crore a plane. But the total cost includes separate components such as weapons, training and setting up of infrastructure. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar signed the dotted line of an inter-government agreement with his French counterpart Jean Yves le Drian here, putting the seal on a deal that originated in the late 1990s. This would be India's first contract for a full-fledged fighter aircraft since the Sukhois were contracted in 1997, barring the advance trainer jet Hawk (contracted in 2004), in nearly two decades. "This is a highly potent aircraft and will give the Indian Air Force a technological edge over many others," Parrikar said after the signing. But the defence ministry's efforts today after the deal was done were directed at making a convincing case on the hugely expensive purchase. Ministry sources reasoned that the total cost of the Rafale package, complete with the aircraft, the infrastructure for them, the weapons, the training and customised systems was so good that it had already resulted in savings of 328 million euros because India drove a hard bargain. The sources were comparing this notional saving to the price that would have been negotiated if the government had persisted with the original selection of the Rafale. The Rafale was the Indian Air Force choice through the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) competition announced in 2007. It had emerged as the lowest bidder beating the Eurofighter Typhoon after the two were chosen from a field of six combat jets. But the comparison is difficult because the MMRCA project envisaged the acquisition of 126 jets of which 18 would be bought in fly-away condition and 108 were to be made in India. That project was junked last April when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced during his visit to Paris that India would prefer a direct purchase of 36 Rafales that would be ready to fly. When the MMRCA project was announced in 2007 under the UPA regime, the cost of the total acquisition was estimated to be about 10 billion $. The purchase of 36 readymade Rafales after today's contract would be 7.87 billion euros or about $8.6 billion. The Indian Air Force had projected the requirement for such an aircraft not only because the depletion in its fleet of fighters that are ageing. It had also said that the aircraft must have the capabilities that the IAF wanted to fulfil the operational directive from the government to be ready for a two-front war. The directive was in the context of the security establishment perceiving China and Pakistan to be its two main adversaries. The Rafale is a twin-engined delta-winged aircraft. The fighter is in service with the French Armee de'l'air. The weapons package for the version customised for India would include advanced beyond visual range Meteor air-to-air missiles with a range of more than 100 kms, the Scalp air-to-ground missile with a range of 300km. Its detection and survival features would include Active Electronic Scanned Array radar. Defence ministry sources specifically pointed to the Meteor as giving a huge technological edge to the IAF among most air forces in Asia. The Pakistan Air Force has something comparable with its AIM-9x Sidewinders. The Meteor BVRAAM is made by MBDA originally for France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK. It has an active radar seeker, two-way data link communication and a Ramjet motor. MBDA claims it can engage a wide range of targets in air with pinpoint accuracy. For India, French maker Dassault Aviation is required to deliver the first of the jets in 36 months, that is September 2019, and complete deliveries in 30 months in 2022. The French government has stood as a guarantor against defaults. Dassault and its partner firms have also undertaken to ensure that 75 per cent of IAF's Rafale fleet (that is at least 27 of the 36 aircraft after all deliveries) are ready for war at all times. Serviceability of fighter aircraft is a huge issue with the IAF's fighting fleet. Its current frontline fighter, the Sukhoi 30 Mki had a serviceability percentage that has risen from just about 46 per cent to about 55 per cent in two years The Telegraph, Calcutta