Six global manufacturers have responded to India’s tender for 110 fighter aircraft. The preliminary tender or Request for Information (RFI) was floated in April this year for buying 18-20 single and double engine jets off the shelf from the selected vendor and rest to be built in India under the strategic partnership programme. The proposed contract may cross the ten-billion dollar mark.
The companies, which submitted their proposals to the Defence Ministry as Friday was the last day for responding, include Dassault (France), Saab (Sweden), Boeing and lockheed Martin (US), Russia and a conglomeration of European nations. Dassault is already manufacturing 36 Rafale jets for Indian Air Force as per a Government to Government deal worth over seven billion Euros and the entire fleet is expected to be operational by 2022.
While Boeing manufactures F-18, lockheed Martin is pitching for the new deal with its F-16s while Russia has proposed to sell its MIG-35s. Swedish company manufactures Gripen jet while a conglomeration of European countries is fielding its Eurofighter jet.
The IAF and the Defence Ministry will now scrutinise the responses from the six contenders and then issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) that kick starts formal procedure of selecting the suitable vendor, official sources said here on Friday. They added it will take about six months to issue RFP. Incidentally, the RFI also stipulated that 75 per cent of jets will be single engine.
The IAF floated the tender in the background of its fast depleting fighter jet combat strength. At present, it has 32 squadrons (one squadron has 18-20 jets) and urgently needs 42 squadrons. The enhanced combat strength is needed to fight a two-front war with Pakistan and China.
The Government had earlier this year scrapped a two-year-old plan to manufacture 114 single engine jets under the Strategic Partnership plan with a foreign manufacturer. The proposed project was worth over Rs 1.15 lakh crore. The new RFI includes single and double engine jets.
Moreover, all the six contenders who submitted their proposals on Friday, also took part in the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) project floated during the UPA regime. It involved procurement of 126 jets.
While the Government would have bought 18 jets off the shelf, the remaining jets were to be manufactured by public sector giant Hindustan Aeronautics limited(HAl). Rafale (Dassault) had emerged as the winner of that proposed contract but the final deal could be not clinched due to various technical and commercial reasons.
After assuming power, the NDA scrapped MMRCA deal and opted for buying 36 Rafales from France through a Government to Government deal wherein the French Government stands guarantee for all the contractual obligations.
