Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 21

When India and France ink their much-awaited contract to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets this week, it will not only bridge a two-decade gap in procuring new fighter jets for the Indian Air Force (IAF) but will also provide a technological edge.The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) today cleared the final draft of the inter-governmental agreement to be signed with France.The IAF has not procured any new fighter jets since the start of this century. The last one being the Sukhoi 30-MKI from Russia first ordered in mid-1990s and since then licence produced in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).The two countries are set to sign a €7.878 billion (Rs 58.828 crore) contract with Dassault Aviation of France this week for these 36 Rafale jet fighters. This means around Rs 1634 crore for each plane that will add more power to the IAF’s fleet – currently operating at its lowest force levels in a decade.The first jet is to be delivered in 36 months (September 2019) and the entire lot will be delivered over the following 30 months.The French company will make India-specific changes like the next-generation missiles such as Meteor and Scalp, which will add capability much beyond India’s immediate adversaries. The Meteor, is a BVR (Beyond Visual Range) air-to-air missile with a range in excess of 150 km. It will allow the IAF to hit targets inside both Pakistan and Tibet from within its own territory. The Scalp is a long-range air-to-cruise missile with a range of 300 km.The Ministry of Defence and the IAF team that negotiated the price has secured a concession of almost €722 million (Rs 5390 crore). In January, a day before French President François Hollande and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were to jointly issue a statement during the French President’s visit to India, the French team had quoted a price of €8.6 billion. The negotiations ended at a price of €7.898 billion, sources in the Ministry of Defence said. Of this, €3.42 billion is the cost of the bare planes, €1.8 billion of associate supplies for the infrastructure and support, €1.7 billion for India-specific changes, €710 million is the additional weapons package and €353 million is the cost of ‘Performance-based Logistics Support’.Under this logistics support, Dassault will ensure that at least 75 per cent of the fleet remains operational or air worthy at any given time under what is called the existing frontline fighter, the Sukhoi 30-MKI has only 60 per cent availability. Other concessions include free training for nine IAF personnel, additional guarantee for 60 hours of usage of training aircraft for Indian pilots and six months of free weapons storage without charge. Under the originally planned (and now scrapped) proposal to produce 126 planes in India, the first batch of 18 planes were to be manufactured in France and 108 were to be manufactured in India. France cited that cost of man hours (labour) needed in India to produce a plane was 2.7 times higher due to lack of automation. This along would have meant additional Rs 150 crore per plane.

First jet by September 2019

• France is set to deliver the first jet in 36 months (September 2019) and the entire lot will be delivered over the following 30 months
• The IAF has not procured any new fighter jets since the start of this century. The last one being the Sukhoi 30-MKI from Russia first ordered in mid-1990s and since then licence produced in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited