India’s decision to buy 36 Rafale jets in fly-away condition, in Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s words on Saturday, will bring “minimum oxygen” to the Indian Air Force (IAF) as these multi-role aircraft will be inducted within two years.
Officials agreed no less, terming it a “stopgap, piecemeal” arrangement given that it will address only to a small extent the critical shortage of combat aircraft since the IAF has to replace more than 300 MIG-21s and MIG-27s, which are in the last stage of their operational life, by 2017.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in Paris on Friday that the decision to buy 36 Rafale jets through Government-to-Government route was taken keeping in view “critical operational necessity” and terms and conditions for the deal will be sorted out by officials of both the countries.
Describing as “great” India’s decision to buy Rafale jets after talks between Modi and French President Francois Hollande in Paris, Parrikar said it will go a long way in strengthening the IAF.
“IAF will get minimum oxygen (relief) it requires with this deal...In fact we have not purchased any major new generation aircraft in 17 years. It’s a great decision taken by Prime Minister Modi on better terms and conditions. Procuring 36 planes for two squadrons is an extremely positive decision which was needed,” Parrikar said in Panaji.
India had last inked a deal for SU-30s with Russia more than 17 years ago and now has 200 SU-30s with 80 more to be inducted into the IAF in the next three to four years.
Officials acknowledged the move was a “step forward” for operational preparedness of the IAF as the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) proposed deal for buying 126 Rafale jets from French manufacturer Dassault has been bogged down for the last three years over pricing and transfer of technology issues, they said.
This delay has already pushed back IAF’s plans for modernization as the Rafales were supposed to replace the ageing MIG-21s and MIG-27s if the MMRCA deal had gone through and its fate is unknown as differences between Dassault and Indian Defence Ministry persist, they said.
As envisaged, India was to buy 18 Rafales off-the-shelf from Dassault and Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl) was to manufacture the remaining 108 planes in India after inking a transfer of technology pact.
Sources said even if the price negotiations are amicably settled and MMRCA deal is inked now, the 18 jets would be inducted into the IAF only after three to four years, while the 200-odd MIG-21s and nearly 100 MIG-27s are scheduled to be phased out by 2017 itself.
Moreover, IAF needs 42 squadrons as effective deterrence but is now operating only 35 squadrons (one squadron has 18-20 jets) even as China and Pakistan are rapidly modernizing their air force thereby putting IAF at a disadvantage, they said adding resource crunch may further delay optimization of IAF’s preparedness to extend its strategic reach.
Also, the indigenously-designed and manufactured Tejas light Combat Aircraft (lCA) programme is also running several years behind schedule and the first squadron is likely to be inducted in 2019-20.
At present, the IAF has six types of combat aircraft in service, including MIG-21s, MIG-27s, MIG-29s, Jaguars, Mirages and SU-30s. Besides MIG-21s and MIG-27s, the Jaguars (four squadrons) are also fast nearing their operational life. Incidentally, the 52 Mirage jet fighters procured from France are now undergoing mid-life upgrade and will be in service for another nine to ten years.
Parrikar said Rafale’s induction into the IAF may take two years “as fly-away does not mean we will get them tomorrow.” Elaborating upon this aspect, he said the planes have to be designed as per India’s needs, adding price negotiations will now be held between the officials of the two countries.
Justifying the latest decision to buy Rafales off-the-shelf, the Minister said: “The Request for Proposal (RFP) procedure for procuring these aircraft had been dragging on for several years. This was started in 2000 and still it was not getting completed because of a lot of confusion, so I am very happy that the PM has taken the initiative.” He also said the ice has been finally broken over the deal.
India had bought 55 Mirage fighter jets in the mid-1980s through a Government-to-Government pact with France wherein the Government stands guaranteed for the product sold. India has similar arrangements with Russia and US wherein it inducted SU-30s from Russia and C-130Js, C-17 transport aircraft, P-8 I long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft from US besides amphibious INS Jalashwa.
A Government-to-Government pact does away with the need for floating a tender which often takes a long time to fructify thereby impacting operational preparedness of the armed forces. As regards the Rafale deal, the French Government will ensure that the 36 aircraft are delivered to the IAF in a time-bound manner by Dassault and officials are hopeful of it as there is no clause for transfer of technology in this deal.
The technology transfer deal in MMRCA is one of points of contention between Dassault and HAl as the French company is now willing to take responsibility for the 108 aircraft to be manufactured by the Indian public sector aviation giant.