Fighter jets may take longer to land
Despite assurances from the government that funds will not be a constraint to modernisation of the armed forces, defence minister AK Antony recently lamented he was struggling to get even the allocated grants of R1.93 lakh crore, let alone seeking an additional R45,000 crore to buy weapon systems to maintain operational preparedness.
His statement came in the backdrop of the government cutting more than R14,000 crore out of the total capital outlay of nearly R80,000 crore meant for procuring weapons and meeting contractual obligations.
“The MMRCA contract, which is both commercially and politically complex, is not expected to be concluded this fiscal. The most difficult aspect of this deal is the offsets contract; negotiations with the French Dassault company have not been concluded yet,” officials told FE.
“The negotiations for the offsets are very complex and there is no way they will be completed even if the ministry of defence scrambles to seal the deal in the next four months,” sources added.
In the MMRCA deal, where 50 % offsets are expected, efforts are needed to get key technologies from selected vendors of components, such as the AESA Radar, single crystal blade and special coatings.
As reported by
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