By Carola Hoyos, Defence correspondent
BAE Systems, Europe?s largest defence contractor, has signalled its willingness to reduce the price of the Eurofighter Typhoon to win a $20bn Indian tender from France?s Dassault.
Ian King, BAE chief executive, told the Financial Times that BAE needed to consult with its partners in Germany, Italy and Spain, but said all options were open. ?I will be discussing with our partners what we do next. In my view, all options are on the table,? he said.
When pressed on whether this would include cutting the price, Mr King confirmed it was one of the options being considered.
While noting that India?s decision to grant Dassault?s Rafale preferred bidder status was based on price, he argued the Typhoon was younger, more versatile and could be modernised at a competitive cost.
India?s decision last week surprised industry executives who had felt the Typhoon, whose developers include BAE, pan-European EADS and Italy?s Finmeccanica, would edge out the Rafale because the French aircraft had not landed any export orders and faced a potential production shutdown.
However, analysts and industry executives said any technical advantage the Typhoon might enjoy over the Rafale was not enough to outweigh the difference in price plus any other sweeteners, such as more generous technology transfer agreements, offered by France.
John Louth, analyst at Royal United Services Institute, the think-tank, said that the companies? bid was too technical and lacked the grand military vision of that of the French.
According to Douglas Barrie of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a key issue for buyers was whether the supplier would support it over the jet fighter?s 30-year life by guaranteeing technology upgrades.
Analysts believe this consideration prompted India to snub two US fighters in an earlier tender round, even though the US was the only country able to provide it with the latest radar technology that New Delhi said it wanted. The Typhoon and Rafale are still working on such systems.
Mr Barrie said: ?You want to have guaranteed access to key technology platforms, whether this is the ability to integrate your own weapons or modify key areas of software to do with radar or electronic warfare performance, over the long term.?
? The Financial Times Limited 2012