India’s MRCA To Be Known By Month End

[sonicboom]

India’s MRCA To Be Known By Month End



India’s choice of the Medium-Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMCA) under its largest-ever military fighter deal for procuring 126 such planes at an estimated USD 11 billion is expected to be known by the “end of this month”.”We are looking to start the commercial negotiations by the end of this month,” Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said at an event at Indian Women Press Corps(IWPC) today. Under the Defence Procurement procedure (DPP), the Ministry holds commercial negotiations with the company offering the lowest price for the product on offer and meeting the service requirements. The IAF Chief said if the losing companies don’t try to “put spokes in the wheel”, the deal would be signed within his tenure, which ends in July this year.

ASIAN DEFENCE NEWS: INDIA

[keysersoze]

Please note how the comments were couched with terms such as "negotiations will begin" and "If the other companies don't put spokes in the wheel" It's almost like he doesn't belive that it will happen soon lol

[vinod2070]

^^ You are still laughing after the OBL raid!

I am impressed. ;)

[keysersoze]

Originally Posted by vinod2070

^^ You are still laughing after the OBL raid!

I am impressed. ;)

Dude I'll keep on laughing....Seriously is that the best you can do? See you in a month.......

[vinod2070]

Originally Posted by keysersoze

Dude I'll keep on laughing....Seriously is that the best you can do? See you in a month.......

Seriously, I am amazed at the way you guys think. You don't care for your own non-achievements and becoming a laughing stock of the world, just for supposed Indian deficiencies!

A negative identity can only take you to top the failed state charts and we see that happening every day.

[keysersoze]

India to award $11 bn M-MRCA deal within next one month
PTI, Feb 10, 2011, 03.04pm IST
Tags:

IAF|
fighter deal

BANGALORE: India will pick up by next one month the vendor for its biggest-ever military fighter deal for purchasing 126 Medium-Multirole Combat Aircraft at a cost of USD 11 billion, the contract of which is expected to be finalised by September.

Addressing a press conference here, Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said all the problems related to the offsets proposals have been sorted out and if the bid losers "don't put spokes in the wheel," the deal would be finalised in the given timeframe.

"We hope to start the contract negotiations in the next two to four weeks and the deal may be signed by September," he said.

The IAF had submitted its field evaluation trial report on July 30 last year and the Defence Ministry has been going through it to determine the aircraft meeting IAF's requirement.

Six aircraft including Russian MiG-35, American F-16 and F/A-18, Swedish Gripen, European Eurofighter and French Rafale are in the race for the multi-billion dollar contract.

Naik said "unless dissatisfied vendors put spokes", which may involve getting clearances from the Central Vigilance Commission or legal proceedings, the deal would be finalised by September -- in the next fiscal.

The IAF is planning to induct these aircraft to augment its 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 evaluation trials, Naik said the process was a "complicated" one as each aircraft had to be tested for 600 different parameters by the IAF.

Under the procurement process, the Defence Ministry negotiates with the company offering the lowest price for the equipment required by respective services.

Asked about the procurement of new cluster bombs from American firm Textron, he said that would be first put on the Jaguar deep penetration fighters by the IAF.


The above was 2 months ago so I would say the previous report is not accurate. Also I am sure the other companies may decid to "put a spoke in the wheels" judging by the issues suffered in the US

[keysersoze]

Decision on M-MRCA deal won't be political: Antony

Tags : Medium-Multirole Aircraft, M-MRCA deal, F-16, Eurofighter, MiG-35 Posted: Wed Feb 09 2011, 16:18 hrs Bangalore:
F-18 Super Hornet
US Air Force F-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft takes off at the opening ceremony of Aero India 2011 in Bangalore.



With countries pushing hard to support the bids of their companies in IAF's USD 11 billion Medium-Multirole Aircraft (M-MRCA) deal, India today said the decision to award the tender will be based on merits and will not be a political one.

"The decision will be based on merit only... There will be no political decision in defence acquisition process including the M-MRCA. As far as India is concerned, there will be no political decision and interference in defence acquisition process," Defence Minister A K Antony said here.

The Minister was asked about reports suggesting that the US was asking India to award the M-MRCA contract to one of its companies in the race to pay back for its support to New Delhi at various international forums.

Two American aircraft – Lockheed Martin's F-16 and the Boeing's F/A-18 E/F along with European Eurofighter, Swedish Gripen, French Rafale and Russian MiG-35 are in the race for the deal for 126 fourth generation combat aircraft.

Heads of states of all the countries have visited India in the last one year and pitched for the bids submitted by their companies. The list includes US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Antony said the decision to award the contract was likely to be taken in the next fiscal.

He said in all the defence acquisition processes, the contracts would be awarded following the defence procurement procedure.


The part about he US using leverage in exchange for support is interesting. Will they withdraw the support?

[Araz]

Vinod
I go by the speed with which Indian establishment have previously negotiated contracts.NO disrespect meant but you guys take a long time. I dont think ths deal is going to be finished in September and may yet drage on a bit more. frankly, either way I think is not the wrong thing to do. There is no threat environment and the planning is for 2015 onwards. Iseriously think, India could have avoided all these expenses by simply embarking in trade with China and settling the berder disputes with it. the 2 nations should be collaborating rather than squaring off one against the other.As to Pakistan<< well in its current state it is more of a threat ot itself than to anyone else, so who are you piling arms against and to what end?
Araz

[vinod2070]

I do hope for better relations with both China and Pakistan but we can't lower our guard at all. May be some confidence building measures with Pakistan would help reassure them, once the strategic assets are neutralized by Pakistan.

Strong fences make for better neighbors as they say, especially true for China at this time.

I agree that this took an inordinately long time. Our procurement system sucks big time.

[keysersoze]

Rafale, Typhoon score on merit

Just why has the Indian Air Force (IAF) short-listed the French Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon ahead of four other contenders, including the US F-16 and F/A-18 fighters, for the Rs 42, 000 crore medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contract?

The down selection at the end of a prolonged evaluation of the six fighter jets was evidently based on the fact that the Rafale and the Typhoon were the most modern airframes and better equipped compared to F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-16 IN of the US, MiG-35 of Russia, and JAS-39 Gripen of Sweden.

The Rafale and the Typhoon met most of the 630 technical attributes mentioned in the request for proposal (RFP) by the ministry of defence, while the others lacked either in performance or had limitations in terms of future upgrades.

“Rafale figures a notch higher than Typhoon in terms of performance and involves easier adaptability as it is logistically and operationally similar to Mirage-2000, used extensively by our boys during the Kargil conflict in 1999. The French government has also cleared the technology transfer, including the AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar,” sources in the IAF told Deccan Chronicle.

The other discreet offering by Dassault Aviation too made sense: save on the $1.5 billion project to upgrade 52 Mirage-2000 jets by acquiring the Rafale.

Interestingly, all six fighters were in the race till April 17, the deadline for submission of modified offset proposals. The representatives of these firms were informed of the Union government’s decision to relax the offset policy mentioned in the request for proposal (RFP).

The original rider that half the value of the $ 10.5 billion contract be passed on to domestic firms was modified, fixing it at 30 per cent of the deal. “We were all expecting a word on extension of commercial proposals on the last day, April 28, but got to know that only Dassault Aviation and Eurofighter have been invited for discussions,” said a representative of Saab AB.

Those who lost out have made it known that they would raise issues concerning the price and other attributes of Rafale and Typhoon. The two aircraft are said to be the highest priced among those in the contest when looked at from a unit price point of view. Second, the Eurofighter’s AESA radar is still under development. Only the two US fighters have operational AESA radars on them.

If India finally picks the Rafale, it would be only the second air force after the French Air Force to induct these fighters into its fleet.

India has asked Dassault SA and Eurofighter GmbH to hold their price bids until the end of the year. The deal is expected to be signed by March 2012.

The Final Two

Eurofighter Typhoon – Germany/Britain/Italy/Spain

Dassault Rafale -- France

Out of the contest

Lockheed Martin’s F-16IN – USA

Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet – USA

SAAB’s Gripen JAS-39 – Sweden

Mikoyan-Gureywich’s MiG-35 – Russia

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chann...core-merit-126