The defence ministry on Monday approved the procurement of arms and military equipment worth Rs 2,290 crore, including around 72,000 Sig Sauer assault rifles from the US for troops guarding the borders with China and Pakistan, officials said.
The proposals were approved at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the defence ministry’s highest decision-making body on procurement of arms and other equipment for the country’s armed forces.
Besides clearing the proposal to buy assault rifles, the other significant acquisitions approved by the DAC include procurement of smart anti-airfield weapon (SAAW) systems for the Navy and the Indian Air Force at an approximate cost of Rs 970, the officials said.
“The DAC headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh accorded approval for various arms and equipment worth Rs 2,290 crore,” the defence ministry said.
The cost of procurement of the Sig Sauer assault rifles for the frontline troops of the Indian Army will be Rs 780 crore, officials said.
The Army is implementing a mega infantry modernisation programme under which a large number of light machine guns, battle carbines and assault rifles are being purchased to replace its ageing and obsolete weapons.
In October, 2017, the Indian Army began the process to acquire around seven lakh rifles, 44,000 light machine guns (LMGs) and nearly 44,600 carbines.
The world’s second largest standing Army has been pushing for fast-tracking the procurement of various weapons systems considering the evolving security challenges along India’s borders with Pakistan and China.
Officials said the government is fast-tracking procurement of 72,000 Sig Sauer assault rifles from the US, adding the weapons will be used by troops guarding the borders with China and Pakistan.
The government has accorded priority to the modernisation of the armed forces and the infantry modernisation has been initiated as part of the larger process to further enhance combat capability of the Army.
The officials said the DAC also approved the procurement of Static HF Tans-receiver sets under the buy Indian category at a cost of Rs 540 crore. The HF radio sets will enable seamless communication for the field units of the Army and the Air Force.
The military equipment are being procured at a time Indian Army is locked in a bitter border row with China in eastern Ladakh. — PTI
Security scenario in eastern Ladakh at uneasy ‘no war no peace’ status: IAF chief
The present security scenario along our northern frontiers is at an uneasy “no war no peace” status, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said on Tuesday, referring to the prolonged border row with China in eastern Ladakh.
In an address at a conference, Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said the Indian Air Force had responded to the situation with rapidity and was fully resolved to counter any “misadventure” in the region.
“The present security scenario along our northern frontiers is at an uneasy no war no peace status. Our defence forces are prepared for any eventuality as you are aware,” the Chief of Air Staff said.
Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said the recent induction of Rafale jets along with previous acquisitions of C-17 Globemaster aircraft as well as Chinook and Apache helicopters had provided the IAF with substantial tactical and strategic capability enhancement.
“Airpower will be a crucial enabler in our victory in any future conflict. It is, therefore, imperative that IAF obtains and maintains a technological edge over our adversaries,” he said at the conference on energising the Indian aerospace industry.
Five French-made multi-role Rafale fighter jets were inducted into the IAF on September 10.
The fleet has been carrying out sorties in eastern Ladakh in the last couple of weeks.
The IAF chief also said that the raising of two squadrons of light combat aircraft Tejas and integration of some indigenous weapons on Su-30 MKI combat jets in a very reduced time frame had been the “most promising” development, reflecting the country’s capabilities to develop indigenous military hardware. PTI
Pakistan’s geopolitics revolves around Kashmir. It was obvious from Pakistan premier Imran Khan’s address at the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday. He devoted 15 minutes to Kashmir, spotlighting his delusional narrative on Kashmir, and exhausted all his vocabulary of name calling for India. This was the same old story that Islamabad and its leaders have been telling over the decades.
Imran Khan, whom the opposition parties identified as selected PM by the establishment (army) , sought to further the suicidal notion that Kashmiris wanted to be part of Pakistan. This unrealistic view of Kashmir and its people could prove suicidal for Pakistan. Its persistence that Kashmir is a “dispute” that had to be settled under the United Nations Security Council resolutions can pose an existential threat to it. This is the natural consequence of living with and perpetuating delusions.
The time is not far when Pakistanis would be asking serious questions to its leaders and army as to what happened about the narrative of “Kashmir banega Pakistan”. In fact, the public there has already started asking what is the Kashmir policy, and to what end it is being pursued and at what cost?
A seasoned diplomat of Pakistan Ashraf Jehangir has warned Islamabad that there are grave risks involved in its Kashmir policy and also highlighted the high costs involved in this directionless misadventure.
No one in Pakistan knows how to wriggle out of the difficult situation in which it has landed due to its unending obsession with Kashmir.
Kashmiris know the reality of Pakistan better than Pakistanis would ever admit. They know how Partition migrants are treated with contempt and called “mohajirs”.
Pakistan also keeps harping on obsolete swan song that it “stands in solidarity with the people of Kashmir”. Imran Khan played this song yet against at the UNGA. It needs to answer how it has shown “solidarity” with Kashmiris. The answer is simple – by radicalising youth and giving them guns and grenades to spill blood and expand graveyards. It is a mockery of its claim that it has been in the frontline of fighting terrorism. In reality, it is in the frontline of nurturing and exporting terrorism and now is on a suicide mission of self-destruction.
Historian digs out story of lesser-known Bhagat Singh Like his illustrious namesake, the lesser-known Bhagat Singh too believed in socialism and wanted to drive out the British from India.
he Nau Jawan Bharat Sabha (a youth group founded in Punjab and influenced by the Ghadar movement) gained popularity among left inclined radical Sikh activists in Kolkata during the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service Kolkata, September 28
Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh, whose 113rd birth anniversary is being observed on Monday is an inspiration for many.
However, there was another Bhagat Singh who too was a freedom fighter. Thus Bhagat Singh is hardly known and would have remained so had Jadavpur University historian Suchetana Chattopadhyay not dug out his story from the state archives.
Like his illustrious namesake, the lesser-known Bhagat Singh too believed in socialism and wanted to drive out the British from India.
According to Chattopadhyay, the Nau Jawan Bharat Sabha (a youth group founded in Punjab and influenced by the Ghadar movement) gained popularity among left inclined radical Sikh activists in Kolkata during the late 1920s and early 1930s. From the beginning, their activities were closely monitored by the police.
On February 15, 1933, five Sikh men (all five originally belonging to Hoshiarpur) were arrested for being ‘terrorists’. The police accused them of having links with the banned Bengal branches of Nau Jawan Bharat Sabha and Kirti Dal, the older organisation of communists from Punjab and Bengal.
The arrested activists occupied a room on the third floor of 6 Ganga Prasad Mukherjee Road at Bhabanipur, a prominent South Kolkata neighbourhood. Two aluminium bombs and a phial containing strong sulphuric acid were found among their effects. On May 20, they were convicted and sentenced to six years’ rigorous imprisonment.
Bhagat Singh, the alleged ring-leader, and his four associates were suspected of having imbibed a toxic mix of militant Left-wing convictions and terrorist violence while living and working in the city.
Bhagat Singh, born in 1908 in Mahilpur, had passed middle school in 1923 and arrived in Kolkata in 1924. He had learnt driving in the city and worked as a bus driver till 1933 when he was jailed. Among his four co-accused, three were bus drivers while one drove a taxi for a living. They were all literate. Diaries, leaflets and handbills in Gurumukhi script were found in their possession.
Amar Singh, who was among the five arrested, died in Multan prison. Bhagat Singh, Pakkar Singh and Dhanna Singh were released from Bengal jails during 1938, having been granted remission after 5 years. Banta Singh vanished from the records. Pakkar Singh’s friendship with a Sikh warder in Rajshahi jail (now in Bangladesh) led to the latter’s dismissal.
Before his release from Dum Dum Central Jail, Bhagat Singh had written a secret letter in Punjabi which was intercepted by police. He had wanted to know the opinion of communist and socialist leaders regarding hunger-strike undertaken by the prisoners in Punjab jails.
From his photograph, it appears that Bhagat Singh had given up observing religious customs. Nevertheless, the gurdwara at Kolkata’s Rash Behari Avenue, out of empathy for the freedom movement, had promised to help him after his release.
Rajnath Singh unveils new Defence Acquisition Procedure
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh releases the New Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) at the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)
New Delhi, September 28
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh unveiled on Monday a new Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) that features steps to turn India into a global manufacturing hub of military platforms, reduce timelines for procurement of defence equipment and allow purchase of essential items by the three services through capital budget under a simplified mechanism.
“Under the new policy, the offset guidelines have also been revised to give preference to defence majors offering to manufacture products in India instead of meeting the offset obligations through other means,” officials said.
The DAP also incorporated new chapters on information and communication technologies, post-contract management, acquisition of systems developed by the state-run defence entities like the DRDO and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), they said.
In what is seen as a significant move, the DAP featured measures to reduce delay in procurement of essential items by the three services as it proposed a new enabling provision to acquire them through capital budget under a simplified procedure in a time-bound manner.
Singh said the DAP had also included provisions to encourage Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to establish manufacturing hubs both for import substitution and exports while protecting the interests of Indian domestic industry.
“The offset guidelines have also been revised, wherein preference will be given to manufacture of complete defence products over components and various multipliers have been added to give incentivisation in discharge of offsets,” the Defence Minister tweeted.
He said the DAP has been aligned with the vision of the government’s ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative and to empower Indian domestic industry through ‘Make in India’ projects with the ultimate aim of turning the country into a global manufacturing hub.
The policy also provides for single-stage accord of AoN (Acceptance of Necessity) in all cases up to Rs 500 crore to cut delays in approval of acquisition proposals.The DAP also mentioned measures to reform pre-induction testing of defence equipment.
“Scope of trials will be restricted to physical evaluation of core operational parameters. Other parameters may be evaluated based on vendor certification, certification by accredited laboratories, computer simulations of parameters etc,” it said. PTI
Will point out targets & designate enemies as ‘Observer’, says Sub Lieutenant Riti Singh
Sub Lieutenants Riti Singh and Kumudini Tyagi of the Indian Navy | By special arrangement
New Delhi: Sub Lieutenant Riti Singh who has been selected to join as one of the “Observers” (airborne tacticians) in the helicopter stream, said that deciding, designating enemies, and pointing out targets will be her job.
Speaking to ANI here Singh said, “In the Indian Navy on most of our aircraft, there’s an observer with the pilot. All weapon and tactical control, the sensors on the aircraft will be under my control when I take my position. Deciding, designating enemies and pointing out targets will be my job.” Sub Lieutenant Kumudini Tyagi and Sub Lieutenant Riti Singh were selected to join as ‘Observers’ (airborne tacticians) in the helicopter stream.
They were awarded ‘Wings’ on graduating as ‘Observers’ at a ceremony held at INS Garuda, Kochi on September 21.
Meanwhile, Kumudini Tyagi said the force prepares its cadets in such a way that everybody is mentally and physically prepared to deal with any situation.
“The Navy has prepared in such a way that we are prepared mentally and physically for whichever situation we come to face. We’ve had 60 hours of flying training including sorties and simulator flights. Our instructors have never discriminated against us for our gender,” Tyagi told ANI.
Flt Lt Singh, who was commissioned into the IAF in 2017 as part of the second batch of women fighter pilots, is currently flying a MiG-21 Bison.
New Delhi: Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh will be the first woman pilot to fly Rafale, India’s most modern multi-role fighter aircraft, sources said.
It has been known for a while that the IAF is training a woman fighter pilot to fly the Rafale, which was inducted into the force at the Ambala base earlier this month, but her name has come to light only now.
Flt Lt Singh is posted at the same base as Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who rose to national fame with his participation in the dogfight between the Indian and Pakistani air forces in February 2019, and his subsequent 60-hour captivity across the border. Wing Commander Varthaman was Singh’s flying instructor, sources said.
Flt Lt Singh, who was commissioned into the IAF in 2017 as part of the second batch of women fighter pilots, is currently flying a MiG-21 Bison, the oldest combat aircraft in the force’s inventory.
In 2017, The Hindu had reported that becoming a pilot was a childhood dream for Flt Lt Singh, who wanted to “fly like a free bird”.
She is inspired by Flying Officers Mohana Singh, Bhawana Kanth and Avani Chaturvedi, the first women fighter pilots of the IAF who were inducted in 2016.
Flt Lt Singh, a graduate of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), was also a cadet of the 7 UP Air Squadron in the National Cadet Corps.
The IAF has inducted 10 women fighter pilots since 2016, with more in training.
New Delhi: It has been nearly two weeks since India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi reached a five-point consensus on de-escalating tensions along the Line of Actual Control. But there seems to have been no movement towards disengagement on the ground in eastern Ladakh yet.
The two countries issued a joint statement Tuesday evening, after the sixth round of military commander-level talks the previous day, in which they agreed to stop sending more troops to the frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground, and avoid taking any action that may complicate the situation.
The India-China standoff has been continuing since April-May, and took another turn earlier this month when shots were fired along the Line of Actual Control for the first time in 45 years. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s statement in Parliament last week was the government’s first formal, high-level statement on the standoff. He said the India-China relationship could not progress if there was trouble and instability on the border, but also blamed China for violating past protocols when it moved large bodies of troops, equipment and ammunition to the LAC in April.
An unusually candid Rajnath also said there was no commonly delineated LAC and that China did not recognise traditional or geographical boundaries. His statement just went to show how complicated the situation at the LAC in eastern Ladakh really is. ThePrint tries to simplify things with the help of a few maps of the region.
Depsang Plains
While the Chinese incursion into Indian territory began in April (see map above), the People’s Liberation Army had started transgressing key points in the Depsang Plains much before.
The Depsang Plains, located in the northern part of eastern Ladakh, are close to the strategically important Daulat Beg Oldie (near the Karakoram Pass), where India’s highest airstrip is located. The plains come under India’s sub sector north (SSN), and lie between the Siachen Glacier on one side and Chinese-controlled Aksai Chin on the other.
For months now, China has been denying Indian troops access to patrol points 10 to 13 in Depsang from a strategic bottleneck called the Y junction.
Defence sources say China is blocking Indian soldiers’ access to a large tract of land, which adds up to 972 square kilometres.
Map: Soham Sen | ThePrint
While the main flashpoints of the India-China tension lie further south, including the heights and other features near Pangong Tso, satellite images have shown an additional deployment of troops from both sides at the Depsang Plains. The Chinese have deployed additional tanks and artillery guns and moved them forward from their usual positions, while India has deployed additional men, tanks and other equipment into the area in response to the build-up.
As reported by ThePrint, the tensions in the Depsang Plains go back to China’s 18-km incursion into the area in 2013, followed by the 2017 Doklam standoff near India’s tri-junction with China and Bhutan to the east.
In 2013, despite talks in which both India and China agreed to go back from their positions, PLA troops never went back completely across what India perceives to be the LAC.
India has created a separate brigade to look after the SSN following 2013.
A violent clash between Indian and Chinese troops on 15 June had brought the Galwan Valley into focus. The violence, in which no firing took place, killed 20 Indian soldiers, including the commanding officer of 16 Bihar, Colonel Santosh Babu.
Map: Soham Sen | ThePrint
Sources said this area could give the Chinese unfettered domination of the strategic Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DS-DBO) road. “The Galwan clashes were an attempt by the Chinese to dominate these areas,” a defence source told ThePrint.
It is for the same reason that the Border Roads Organisation has stepped up work on an alternate route to DBO, which will run along the Nubra river to the vital locations of Sasser La and Gapshan before joining the existing DS-DBO road.
Since the incident and multiple levels of military and diplomatic talks, Chinese troops have moved back from their positions in Galwan Valley, but a buffer zone has been created on either side of the LAC. As a result, Indian troops are not able to access patrol point 14.
At Hot Springs and Gogra Post, however, Chinese troops have not fully pulled back, and have left some elements behind.
India continues to carry out constant surveillance of the area. Additional troops have been deployed along the DS-DBO road, which passes close to the Galwan Valley, for faster movement of reserves and a quicker response in case of an operational requirement.
The 134-km-long northern bank of the Pangong lake has turned out to be the most crucial flashpoint in the current standoff.
Map: Soham Sen | ThePrint
The northern bank juts out into the lake like a palm, and the various protrusions or mountain spurs are identified as ‘fingers’ to demarcate territory.
While India asserts that the LAC lies at Finger 8, China claims it starts at Finger 2, which India dominates.
Since the beginning of the standoff, China has come to dominate the area between Finger 4 and Finger 8, a distance of about 8 km, which India has repeatedly asserted lies on its side of the LAC.
Defence officials said while China committed to pull back its troops after the military-level talks between the two sides, they have refused to vacate Finger 4 completely, though some troops were pulled back initially.
Sources say holding Finger 4 offers the Chinese troops a better visual on Indian troop positions further west. As a result, the talks between the two sides also hit a roadblock and reached an uneasy stalemate before Indian troops captured some key heights on the southern bank of Pangong Tso, pre-empting Chinese military mobilisation near the Spanggur lake.
This move, sources had said, gives better bargaining power to the Indian side during talks.
The situation at Finger 4 is tense after Indian Army troops took control of heights overlooking Chinese army positions.
Just before Jaishankar and Wang Yi’s meeting in Moscow on 10 September, multiple rounds were fired in air by troops on both sides at the overlapping heights of Finger 3 and 4, making it the second such incident at the LAC in 45 years.
The latest flashpoint in the tensions saw the Indian Army occupy key heights on the southern bank of Pangong Tso. This is where Chinese troops are said to have fired shots for the first time in 45 years.
Map: Soham Sen | ThePrint
Indian and Chinese troops were at a distance of barely 300 metres from each other, with a group of 40 Chinese soldiers staying put at one location, sources said.
Aside from firing, Chinese troops at some places had also moved in with clubs, machetes and spears among other sharp weapons — similar to what they carried during the Galwan clash on 15 June. The Chinese have deployed tanks and artillery guns near the Spanggur Gap. India has also put in place troops and equipment to counter the Chinese deployment.
Sources said the southern bank of Pangong Tso emerged as a new front after Indian troops pre-empted Chinese military mobilisation and occupied around 30 dominating heights and terrain features close to the LAC — including Rezang La, Rechin La and Magar Hill among others — on 29-30 August. There were reports of action at a feature called Black Top too, but sources in India’s defence and security establishment underlined that the forces had not crossed the LAC.
The southern bank also gives the Indian troops an advantage in terms of monitoring activities on the northern bank of the lake.
New Delhi: A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled in Parliament Wednesday pointed out irregularities in the purchase of aero engines for Unmanned Aero Vehicles (UAVs) by the Indian Air Force from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
The report states that the IAI gained undue benefits of Rs 3.16 crore from the contract.
It says that the IAF concluded a contract in March 2010 with IAI for five 914 F (certified) UAV Rotax engines for Rs 87.45 lakh per engine even as Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a DRDO laboratory, had procured the same variant of the engine at Rs 24.30 lakh per engine in April 2012.
The average price of the engine in the international market is between Rs 21-25 lakh, the report says.
“As a result, the vendor gained an undue benefit of Rs 3.16 crore as it supplied the five contracted UAV engines at more than three times the market price or the price offered to the DRDO unit,” reads the report.
The auditor also accused the vendor for mislabelling and supplying uncertified engines to the IAF which reportedly led to several accidents, including loss of one UAV in a crash.
Speaking on the report, a senior Indian Air Force officer said that while acceptance of “mislabelled” engines will be looked into, price negotiations are not in the domain of the IAF.
“Price negotiations are conducted by the ministry,” the officer said.
‘Mi-17 chopper fleet could not be upgraded even after 18 years’
The CAG report also noted that the upgradation of Medium Lift Mi-17 Helicopters, proposed in 2002 to overcome their “operational limitation”, could not be achieved even after 18 years.
“As a result, these helicopters were flying with limited capability, thus compromising operational preparedness during these years,” it said.
The CAG further said that due to poor planning by the Ministry of Defence and indecision at various stages of procurement, it took 15 years to enter into the upgradation contract of 90 Mi-17 helicopters with an Israeli company — in January 2017.
The audit also states that while the contracted delivery of these upgraded helicopters had to begin July 2018 and was to be completed by 2024, 56 of these helicopters, even after upgradation, would be left with less than two years of life and would be phased out by 2024.
The CAG also noted administrative and financial irregularities at the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and HAL.
It said the ADA increased the sanctioned strength for the posts of flight test pilots and flight test engineers by four posts without mandatory approval of the General Body and Ministry of Defence.
“This resulted in irregular payment of additional allowances attached with these posts amounting to Rs 4.79 crore for the period November 2008 to March 2018,” it said.
Allowances to IAF personnel
The report also states that the IAF had irregularly authorised certain allowances to IAF personnel such as “Modified Field Area Allowance”, “Counter Insurgency Allowance” and paid ‘Acting Rank’ of Group Captain in violation of norms.
“Audit noted that during 2014-19, the grant of these allowances and acting rank had a financial burden of Rs 20.02 crore. This amount is due for recovery from the concerned IAF personnel.”
It also said that the HAL had incorrectly fixed the new pay scales for all executives and non-unionised supervisors w.e.f. 1 July 2017. As a result, the report said, the HAL had incurred excess payment of pay amounting to Rs34.58crore to its employees for the period from July 2017 to June 2018.
ndian pilots climb out of a Rafale fighter jet that was operationally inducted into the IAF on 10 September 2020 | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint
New Delhi: Foreign vendors often make offset commitments to win contracts but dilly-dally once they are won, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has said, citing as example a proposal from French defence major Dassault Aviation and European firm MBDA that was struck as part of the Rafale deal.
The CAG made the observations in its latest report, which was tabled in Parliament Wednesday.
Offset contracts are those struck as part of a defence deal involving imports. Under this arrangement, a vendor chosen for a contract is required to invest a certain share of the purchase sum into the importing nation. The offsets proposal in question dealt with technology-transfer for the development of an indigenous engine for light combat aircraft (LCA).
“For instance in the offset 4 contract relating to 36 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), the vendors M/s Dassault Aviation and M/s MBDA initially proposed (September 2015) to discharge 30 per cent of their offset obligation by offering high technology to DRDO,” the CAG noted in its report.
The DRDO, it added, wanted to obtain technical assistance for the indigenous development of an engine, Kaveri, for LCA. “Till date the vendor has not confirmed the transfer of this technology (ToT),” it said.
Safran, the engine manufacturer that serves as a supplier to Rafale, had earlier this year said it remains committed to the ToT, and has restarted negotiations with the DRDO. The offsets deal had flown into a rough weather due to pricing issues.
From 2005 to March 2018, CAG said, 46 offset contracts had been signed with foreign vendors that were together valued at Rs 66,427 crore.
According to the auditor, by December 2018, Rs 19,223 crore worth of offsets should have been discharged by the vendors under these contracts. However, only offset claims worth Rs 11,396 crore, or 59 per cent, were submitted by that time.
“Further, only 48 per cent (Rs 5,457 crore) of these offset claims submitted by the vendors were accepted by the ministry. The rest were largely rejected as they were not compliant to the contractual conditions and the Defence Procurement Procedure,” the CAG noted.
It was in 2005 that India adopted its Offset Policy for defence capital purchases of above Rs 300 crore made through imports. In such cases, the foreign vendor was required to invest at least 30 per cent of the value of the purchase in India.
In case of the Rs 59,000 crore Rafale deal, offsets agreements constitute 50 per cent of the contract value.
According to sources, offsets rules allow vendors the flexibility of completing their liabilities.
This CAG report submitted Wednesday is not the first time the auditor has made observations about the Rafale deal.
A CAG report submitted last year said that, a month before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced India’s intention to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France, a Ministry of Defence panel had found that the deal could not be signed in 2012 because Dassault Aviation, the jet’s manufacturer, was not the lowest bidder.
This flew in the face of the Modi government’s claims that the deal was signed as an emergency purchase because Dassault had emerged as L1 (lowest bidder) in the UPA government’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender.
Sources in the MoD, however, sought to explain the contradiction by saying that the deal for 36 Rafales was a government-to-government contract, and L1 or any other company does not come into play.
Map: Soham Sen | ThePrint
