Even as India and France are yet to finalise the contract for 36 Rafale fighter jets, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on Saturday said the Service needs more such aircraft to meet the operational requirements. Admitting that two squadrons(one squadron has 18-20 jets) are not enough, he said the “demand is there” but it is up to the political leadership to take a call on procurement.
The air chief’s assertion came in the backdrop of the ongoing contract negotiations between the Indian and French Governments for fixing the price of each Rafale jet and other issues like offsets. The negotiations started after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his Government’s decision in France in April to scrap the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) tender for 126 aircraft and instead buy 36 Rafale jets off the shelf through a Government to Government contract.
IAF had projected the requirement for 126 MMRCA to replace ageing MIG-21s and MIG-27s. The Modi Gove-rnment’s decision to go in for 36 Rafales had left a question mark about the IAF’s modernisation plan and Raha’s assertion on Friday was made in this context.
Asked during the annual Press conference at the number of aircraft IAF was looking for after the scrapping of MMRCA, Raha said it needs six squadrons. He said Rafale manufactured by Dassault was selected after a rigorous screening process and countries like Qatar and Egypet were also going in for Rafales now.
Hopeful that the contract for 36 Rafales will be concluded before the end of this year, Raha said as “air chief he wants Rafale class or MMRCA type of aircraft. But it is difficult for me to predict what happens in future as procurement of more MMRCAs will depend on price and issues like Make in India. You see the project has to be viable.”
He, however, clarified that India need not go in for Rafales as there were other aircraft available in the same category and the final call has to be taken by the political leadership. Rafale was shortlisted after intense technical and commercial evaluation in the MMRCA deal but the contract negotiations lasting over two years could not progress due to issues like price and work share agreement. The French jet emerged winner after beating competition from F-16 and F-18(US), Grippen(Sweden), Eurofighter(conglomeration of UK, Germany, Italy and Spain), and MIG-35(Russia).
The MMRCA tender specified that India will buy 18 aircraft off the shelf and public sector aviation company Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl) will manufacture the remaining 108 jets in India under a transfer of technology pact. The initial cost of the contract was pegged at over Rs45,000 crore and due to delays the cost had gone up substantially forcing the NDA Government to cancel the MMRCA tender.
listing his priorities for maintaining operational preparedness, the IAF chief said the Government was keen to help the Service to have the desired level of 42 squadrons in the next five to ten years to meet any challenge. At present, the IAF has an effective strength of less than 30 squadrons and it will reduce further with the MIG-21s phasing out in the next two to three years.
Moreover, the Jaguars are also in the last phase of their operational life and delays in inducting the indigenously designed and manufactured Tejas light combat aircraft has compounded the problem for the IAF’s modernisation plan. Raha was hopeful that the Tejas will be inducted into the IAF in the next one to two years. IAF has plans to absorb 120 such aircraft and Raha urged the HAl to ramp up production.