Govt invites $10-bn global tenders for 126 aircraft

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New Delhi, Aug 28: The much-awaited global tender worth $10 billion (Rs 42,000 crore) for 126 combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force was floated on Tuesday.

The request for proposal (RFP) along with annexures has been sent to six aircraft manufacturers the US F-16 (Lockheed Martin) and F-18 Super Hornet (Boeing), the Swedish JAS-39 Gripen, the French ‘Rafale’, the Russian MiG-35 and a European consortium’s Eurofighter (by a consortium of British, German, Spanish and Italian firms). The document deals with various issues relating to initial purchase, transfer of technology (ToT), licensed production and life-time maintenance support.

Though it could be six years before the first planes start arriving, 18 of the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) will be purchased in flyaway condition and the remaining 108 manufactured in the country under an ToT agreement.

The RFP also contains an offsets clause under which the shortlisted vendor will have to reinvest 50% of the paid money in India’s defence manufacturing sector. This clause, which was introduced in the Defence Procurement Procedure-2006 (DPP-2006), mandates that 30% of the cost of military purchases exceeding Rs 300 crore has to be reinvested in the country. The defence acquisition council (DAC) had cleared the RFP in late June chaired by defence minister AK Antony.