The much-awaited and keenly watched $10-billion contract for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) has reached its penultimate stage, clearing decks for the signing of the deal by September this year. According to the chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF), Air Chief Marshal PV Naik, the commercial negotiations for the contract will begin in about two weeks time.
?In the next one or two weeks? commercial negotiation is going to start,? said Naik. The development would mean that the final elimination of the contenders would be completed when the negotiations start. However, industry observers believe that his statement was aimed at pushing the defence ministry into accelerating the decision making process.
“We submitted our report to the ministry in end-July [2010]. Thereafter, there were many queries and counter-queries. Many of the hurdles have been crossed and we believe the price negotiations will begin in a week or two. I’m hopeful of a decision by September,” said the air chief.
He also sounded a red herring saying that a competitor might try ?to play spoke in the wheel?.
?I am hopeful that the deal would be signed by September this year unless a dissatisfied competitor does something,? the chief said.
The IAF has already submitted the technical evaluation report of the six contenders in fray, namely F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-16IN, Gripen Jas-39, Mig-35, Eurofighter Typhoon, Rafale. At $ 10 billion the deal is among one of the largest purchase for the IAF. The first of the aircraft is likely to be inducted by 2017.
One of the contenders told FE that, ?The defence ministry?s long and labourious decision making process is affecting the service’s operational readiness. Also, the six MMRCA contenders have not submitted their offset documents – a requirement under India’s military procurement process.?
The IAF is planning to induct these aircraft to augmentits number and replace the Russian-origin MiG series aircraft,which are on their way out of the service.
Complementing the IAF team involved in the evaluationtrials, Naik said the process was a “complicated” one as eachaircraft had to be tested for 600 different parameters by theIAF.
Under the procurement process, the defence ministry negotiates with the company offering the lowest price for the equipment required by respective services.
Price negotiations could also take months, company officials added, pointing to discussions between India and other countries like Russia and France for various procurements and upgrades.