The French government is expected to make a last ditch effort to save the $20-bn 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) deal, ahead of  an upcoming visit  to Paris by PM Narendra Modi later this year.

Jean-Yves Le Drian,  French defence minister,  will meet counterpart Manohar Parrikar and other officials on Tuesday in an effort to prevent the collapse of talks for the 126 MMRCA from Dassault Aviation. “The MMRCA contract which is commercially and politically complex is not expected to be concluded this fiscal too. The most difficult aspect of this deal besides the offsets contract, there are around 50-60 ‘un-priced’ items believed to have been listed as ‘miscellaneous’ in Dassault’s offer for the Rafale which emerged as L1 in 2012  negotiations with Dassault has not been concluded yet,” a source told FE. In the mother of all contracts, the ‘MMRCA’ where 50% offsets are expected, efforts are needed to be made to get key technologies from selected vendors of components such as the AESA Radar, single crystal blade and special coatings.

However, the French appear reluctant on technology transfer. Until a few months back, tall claims were being directed towards the Indian public about almost 100% technology transfer. However, in a sharp reversal, the opposite message  was being communicated at home in France.