Quel pagaille!!JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY - FEBRUARY 22, 2006
India expects to raise fighter requirement
RAHUL BEDI JDW Correspondent
New Delhi
* The possible expansion of India's multirole combat aircraft requirement is driven by interest from the navy
* The RfP is being "reworked" in light of the navy's requirement
India is expected to increase its initial requirement for 126 multirole combat aircraft (MRCA) for its air force to around 180-190 aircraft, with the additional number being considered for acquisition by the Indian Navy (IN).
This increase would significantly boost the cost of the proposed fighter purchase, which is expected to take four to five years to finalise, to around USD10 billion or more, Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) sources said.
Official sources indicated that naval plans to 'significantly' augment its strike capability and range to deal with out-of-area contingencies had delayed the MoD's dispatch of the request for proposals (RfP) for the aircraft for more than a year after the Indian Air Force (IAF) first publicly declared its intent to import 126 fighters.
RfPs are to be issued for the Mirage 2000-5 and Rafale from France, the F-16 and F/A-18 (US), the MiG-35 (Russia), JAS 39 Gripen (Sweden) and the Eurofighter Typhoon, senior IAF officials confirmed recently. The Rafale and Typhoon were not initially being considered, but have entered the race recently.
IAF Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi declared in November 2005 that the RfP for the aircraft would be issued "within a month". However, official sources said the RfP was currently in the process of being "reworked" collectively in light of the navy's requirement and in all likelihood would be issued over the next few months.
The IN is poised for large-scale hardware acquisitions that include eight maritime reconnaissance aircraft, helicopters, submarines, frigates and two aircraft carriers by 2012 for an extended operational role in the Indian Ocean region.
MoD sources said the delay in dispatching the RfP was also due to the 'lack of clarity' in the government's revised defence procurement procedures (DPP) that mandate a 30 per cent offset in all arms contracts worth more than INR3 billion (USD 68 million).
"Elucidation on offsets has acquired immediacy as India is poised for a massive weapons buying spree that includes the MRCA," a senior MoD official said. It needs detailed discussion between the MoD and private industry that has not even started yet, he added.
According to a DPP statement, announced last year, the MoD's Services Capital Acquisition Plan categorisation committee would recommend which of the state-owned defence public sector units or ordnance factory board plants would assist the ministry in allocating the offset contracts for which they had neither the expertise, nor the experience or infrastructure to support.
The vague offset policy also does not stipulate whether the offset would relate to 'direct' or 'indirect' offset; or if discharging counter-trade obligations would also take into account transfer of technology, licensed or joint production of weapon platforms and systems.
There were also no provisions with the DPP to assign 'offset multipliers', or any guidelines on whether foreign direct investment in industrial sectors other than defence would be considered offsets.
Meanwhile, when French President Jacques Chirac visits New Delhi on 19 February accompanied by a military delegation led by Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, he is expected to withdraw Dassault's Mirage 2000-5 fighters from the reckoning for the Indian contract, pushing instead for the new-generation Rafale fighter.
Official sources said Dassault had informally conveyed recently to the IAF its intent to close its Mirage 2000-5 production lines because of the time it would take for the MRCA contract to be decided, making way for the Rafale's full-rate production.
Dassault is also believed to have informed the IAF - which operates around 50 Mirage 2000Hs - that its extensive Mirage repair and servicing facilities set up by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited at Bangalore in the south, would require only 'limited modification' to accommodate the Rafale as this fighter has much in the common with the Mirage series.
In the late 1990s Dassault pulled its Alpha Jet trainer out of the race for the IAF's contract for 66 advanced jet trainers (AJTs) after it ceased producing the trainer while waiting for India to make a decision. BAE Systems' Hawk was eventually awarded the USD1.7 billion AJT deal in September 2003 after nearly two decades of negotiations.
Separately, IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnani recently declared that the service would order 20 locally designed Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) by the end of March.
AM Bhavnani said deliveries of the Tejas would begin in 2008 and end three years later. Thereafter, the IAF would consider a follow-on order for a similar number estimated to cost around INR20 billion, officials said.
Dur de s'y retrouver
Donc voici le scénario version beta 2.1
- Donc l'Inde va "évaluer" tout ce beau monde pendant cinq ans, "évaluer" surtout le radar AESA du F18-E soit dit en passant...
- l'inde a semble-t-il signé un accord avec SNECMA pour le moteur Kaveri du Teja (c'est confirmé ça? parceque on doute de tout là). Lequel moteur a l'air pas mal sur le papier et est bien avancé
- Thales annonce que l'Inde va être "un nouveau marché domestique" pour eux et s'apprête à embaucher 2000 ingénieurs (cf: le Figaro).
- Pendant ce temps là les Indiens regardent si leur Teja avance bien dans son développement, moteur, radar, etc... (ils ont passé une commande de 20 pièces livrables en 2008)
- Si tout est ok: tout le monde dehors!! ...et on achète 126 Teja .... et 40 Rafales pour service rendu et pour avoir la mise à jour des 40 M2000 au standard -5MK2 à bon prix. Et puis aussi pour la navy indienne et l'option Kaveri semble possible avec le Raf'
- et ce sera Ok pour le Teja
... car les français vont aider pour le moteur, le radar et le reste - Dassault qui sent la manip' ne soumissionne pas officiellement mais le fera en temps utile pour ses Rafales.
..... tout ceci n'est que pure spéculation, c'est clair
.quelle saga les affaires en Inde...
Rafale ! 
C'est tout ce qu'on peut faire...
