In an effort to bolster the dwindling fighter aircraft fleet, the Defence Ministry on Friday floated a global tender or request for information(RFI) for 110 jets. The project under the ‘Make in India’ and strategic partnership policy envisages production of the planes here under joint venture between a foreign vendor and an Indian company. The tender is for single and double engine jets.
This is the first major tender to be floated after seven billion Euros(Rs 59,000 crore) deal for 36 Rafale jets was inked by India with France in 2016 in a Government to Government deal. It means the French Government stands guarantee for all aspects of the contract including delivery schedule and other related aspects. The first lot of planes manufactured by Dassault of France will join IAF in 2019 and the entire Rafale fleet is likely to be operational by 2021.
At present, the IAF has 32 squadrons(one squadron has 18-20 planes) while it needs at least 45 squadrons of fighter jets as many of the existing fighter jets in the IAF inventory like MIG-21 and MIG-27s are in the last stages of their operational life. Given the long gestation period before defence deals mature, the proposal for acquiring 110 jets may also take some years.
Incidentally, the tender to buy 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft was floated in 2007 in which Rafale emerged as most suitable jet for IAF. However, negotiations over price and technology transfer resulted in delays. While 18 jets were to be bought off the shelf, the remaining were to be manufactured by public sector Hindustan Aeronautics limited(HAl) I India. The NDA Government finally scrapped the proposed deal in 2014 and opted for buying 36 Rafales off the shelf from France.
In the last two years, the Government was holding parleys with some global companies to manufacture single engine jets in India to overcome the shortage of fighter jets as pointed out by the IAF time and again. However, in February, the decision makers decided to procure jets without getting into the debate on single or double engine variants.
The latest tender states that 85 per cent of the 110 aircraft will be built in India with a total of 75 per cent of total aircraft to be in the single seat category. As regards the capabilities of the jet, the tender stipulates that the plane should be able to perform roles like air superiority, air defence, air to surface operations and reconnaissance.
The companies which competed against each other for the MMRCA deal may figure in the latest tender bid. These companies include lockheed Martin(F-16 jet), Boeing(F-18), Gripen(Sweden), Eurofighter(joint venture between UlK, Germany and Italy), MIG-35(Russia) and Rafale(Dassault of France).