From DNA India

 

French 'Rafale' aircraft out of India's MMRCA race

PTI

Thursday, April 16, 2009 19:14 IST

 

New Delhi: French fighter aircraft 'Rafale' has been knocked out of India's biggest-ever military tender to purchase 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF) estimated to be worth over 10 billion dollar.

 

Defence Ministry sources said it rejected the 'Rafale' bid from the French manufacturer D'assault after careful and cumbersome technical evaluation process that began in May last and ended in February this year.

 

With this, the race for the mother-of-all-deals, as the MMRCA tender is described here, was reduced to five competitors -- US' F-16 Fighting Falcon from Lockheed Martin and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet from Boeing, European consortium EADS' Eurofighter Typhoon, Swedish Gripen NG from SAAB and Russian MiG-35 from United Aircraft Corporation.

 

Though reasons for rejecting Rafale was not revealed, sources indicated that the high cost of the aircraft was one of the factors. "The reasons would be officially communicated to the company," they said.

 

Now, the remaining five competitors would be called for the flight trials of their aircraft, for which the IAF headquarters was currently working out the modalities.

 

"The flight trials will now begin in the next three months and the Air headquarters is working on the modalities for holding the flight trials," sources said.

 

India had issued the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the 126 MMRCA in August 2007 to the six companies, who had submitted their bids by April 2008.

 

Under the RFP norms, IAF would buy 18 of the chosen aircraft off-the-shelf and the remaining 108 would be manufactured through licensing within the country.

 

The tender, which provided for technology transfer, also stipulated that the company bagging the contract for the MMRCA would have to comply with a 50 per cent offset clause.

 

India had first introduced the globally-practiced offsets clause in its Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) in 2006 under which foreign companies bagging contracts worth over Rs 300 crore re-invest at least 30 per cent of the deal in the

country's defence industry.

 

With the rejection of the twin-engine Rafale, the contest would now be among three twin-engine fighters in F/A-18, MiG-35 and Eurofighter Typhoon. The single-engine contenders for the contract would be F-16s and Gripen.

 

IAF sought to purchase the 126 MMRCA as replacements for the aging Russian fleet of MiG-21s, MiG-23s and MiG-27s, and to reduce the different platform types from the current six to just three -- Russian Su-30s, indigenous LCAs and the MMRCAs.

 

With the IAF fleet depleting over the last decade from the sanctioned 39.5 squadrons to 33.5 squadrons at present, the induction of the MMRCA, likely to begin in 2013, would help in increasing the squadron strength to 42 squadrons by 2022.

From Flight International

 

DATE: 20/04/09

SOURCE: Flight International

 

Indian Air Force says Rafale still in fighter competition

By Siva Govindasamy

 

The Indian Air Force has denied reports that the Dassault Rafale has been eliminated from the country’s medium multi-role combat aircraft competition.

 

“We have not ruled anyone out yet in the MMRCA competition,” says an IAF spokesman, who confirmed that the service is responsible for evaluating the contenders. “All of the tests have not been completed. The technical evaluations are only just over and we are scheduled to begin the flight tests next month. Everyone is still in the competition.”

 

Last week, several Indian newspapers reported that the Rafale was eliminated after failing the technical evaluation. When contacted, Dassault said that it is waiting for information from the French embassy in India as negotiations are conducted on a government-to-government basis. The embassy had no comment.

 

The aircraft was not brought to the Aero India 2009 show in Bangalore in February, leading to speculation that it was in danger of being eliminated from the competition. A senior French official, however, defended the no-show at the time saying that the country’s aircraft were required for NATO operations in Afghanistan.

 

Apart from the Rafale, the other five contenders for the $10-12 billion contract are the Boeing F/A-18E/F, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-16, RSK MiG-35, and Saab Gripen. India is scheduled to begin hot weather trials in May, and the aircraft will be tested in cold weather and humid conditions later in the year.

 

This is not the first time that the Indian media have reported that an aircraft has been eliminated from this closely watched competition. Early this year, it was reported that the Gripen had been knocked out but this was later proven untrue.

 

India is seeking 126 aircraft in the competition, of which 18 will be bought in fly-away condition and 108 license produced by Hindustan Aeronautics in the country. There is also an option for another 64 aircraft. The fighter chosen will replace the IAF’s RSK MiG-21s.

From Jane's

 

Rafale set for return to MRCA contention

By Jon Grevatt

22 May 2009

 

Dassault Aviation's Rafale is likely to be allowed to return as a contender to meet the Indian Air Force's (IAF's) multirole combat aircraft (MRCA) requirement, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on 21 May.

 

MoD spokesman Sitanshu Kar told Jane's that it was possible the aircraft could bid for the USD10 billion contest but stressed that the final decision would be made by the incoming defence minister.

 

The Rafale was reportedly declared out of the contest in mid-April by the MoD, which said at the time that the aircraft did not meet its technical requirements. IAF and MoD sources also suggested that Dassault did not provide adequate information about the aircraft's equipment. That information is now understood to have been handed over to the MoD, although Kar did not confirm this.