New Delhi. Rafale Wins. Eurofighter Loses.

The Indian Government formally informed the manufacturers of these two aircraft Jan 31 of the much-awaited Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition of this result. That Rafale is Number 1, and Eurofighter Number 2 in their financial bids.

A brief statement to this effect was read out to their representatives in the Ministry of Defence (MoD).The announcement comes as a big New Year Gift to the Indian Air Force (IAF), which has been waiting for a new generation aircraft since 2001, when it first floated an RFI to replace its older, Soviet generation Mig series aircraft acquired from the late 1960s onwards.

French Reaction

French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed the Indian decision and promised substantial transfer of technology. "The negotiation of the contract will begin very soon with the full support of French authorities,” he said, adding: “It will include major transfers of technology guaranteed by the French state."

Dassault, Rafale’s manufacturer, said that the company had supplied several aircraft to India from Mystere to Mirage 2000 and would keep up with its “commitment to meet the operational requirements of the Indian Air Force and underline their pride in contributing to India’s defence for over half a century.”

Notably, the French Sud Aviation was also the first company to supply commercial jets to India, when the erstwhile Indian Airlines took possession of Caravelle aircraft in the 1960s. US Boeing followed with 707s to Air India and 737s to Indian Airlines.

Eurofighter expressed disappointment, saying that it would analyse the situation.

France, on a wining spree

The French, for whom the Indian decision should be the biggest combat aircraft deal yet, and a boost to their economy, have been on a winning spree in India recently.

Dassault, and its partners Thales and Safran, have been awarded a nearly US$ 2 billion contract to upgrade some 50 Mirage 2000 to 2005 standard, and extend their lives by another 20 to 25 years while earlier, ship builder DCNS won a major contract for six Scorpene submarines for the Indian Navy.

The Indian deal should help the French to reduce the high manufacturing costs, going by the simple industrial dictum: The larger the number, the cheaper the costs.

France has also promised assistance in nuclear power generation and missile technologies.

Selection, on Technical and Financial merit

It may be noted that Rafale and Eurofighter were technically placed on equal footing by the Indian Air Force (IAF) but the French aircraft turned out to be cheaper in direct buy as well as life cycle costs. No details have been released to the public (media) though but industry sources indicated a substantial price difference overall of about 15 per cent.

Notably, costings and requirements of many items, like weapon systems and combat radar specifications, are secret.

There was a last-minute bid by the leaders of the four countries which manufacture Eurofighter Typhoon – Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy – asking India to go for a political decision and select this otherwise very good aircraft but the Government, at the highest levels, decided to go by the book only.

Rafale turned out to be the choice for selection on both technical and financial merit. That is what Defence Minister A K Antony had promised always.

Sources said that the Ministry of External Affairs had also informed the concerned governments of its decision just before the decision was announced to the two finalists.

The Government took about seven months to determine the winner on the basis of costs after the IAF shortlisted the two aircraft in April 2011. Financial bids were actually opened only in November, but before that, the Government examined various package details from life cycle support to periodic upgrades and the very important Transfer of Technology (ToT) terms.

The documents were examined again and again to every comma and full stop before the selection was made.

There are serious reports that a squadron of Rafales have showered the Eiffel tower with champagne. And that the tower is Drunk and Dancing at the coming deal with India.

Supply

Dassault will supply 18 aircraft in flyaway condition within three years of the signing of the contract and then assist India’s HAL and other private or public sector companies in progressively manufacturing the aircraft in India. Both the finalists have been in discussions with Indian manufacturers in this regard. HAL will be the integrator but some private and public sector players are naturally in the race.

It should take a few months, but hopefully within calendar year 2012, to sign the contract.

The aircraft can be refueled mid-air, and as per the RfP, its systems have to be compatible with the Israeli and British Cobham's fuel transferring systems used by the IAF's IL 78 midair refuelers

A bit of History

It may be recalled that four other aircraft, US Lockheed Martin F 16, Boeing Super Hornet F 18, Russian Mig 35 and Swedish Saab Gripen were disqualified in the global MRCA competition although the IAF described all the aircraft as good.

“It was a question of who scored how many” in the IAF’s check list of over 600 points, said the then IAF Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal P V Naik.

Initially in 2001, IAF had wanted only the single-engine Mirage 2000-5 plant to be shifted to India. The French were willing. The number asked then was the same, 126 for six combat squadrons of 18 aircraft each, or 108 aircraft. An additional 18 aircraft were requested for routine Maintenance Reserve and Strike Off Wastage (MRSOW). Two aircraft in each squadron are for training of pilots.

Some one in the MoD indeed had a better idea: that if the number was so large, then there should be a global tender with better specifications. Even though the French have finally won, IAF has got better capability systems than it initially asked for.

Russian aircraft are not favoured generally because of their high maintenance costs while both the Europeans and Americans have displayed hassle-free, operationally cheaper aircraft and systems on the table. Higher maintenance also means less availability as the machines have to be with engineers and technicians.

Naval Variant

Rafale also has a successful naval variant, already operational, and based on board France's lone aircraft carrier Charles de Gualle. The French have made formal presentations to the Indian Navy to inspire interest, and flight demonstrations have been held during an Indo-French exercise off Goa in 2011.

Indian Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma told India Strategic recently that the Navy was planning for about 100 combat jets, but that no aircraft had been identified yet. The Navy has plans for two indigenous aircraft carriers, and the ship-board fighters would be needed in due course, say in another 5-7 years.

Notably, similar presentations, sans flights, have also been made for US Lockheed Martin's F 35, Swedish Saab Gripen and Eurofighter.

The Navy already has on order 45 Mig 29s for INS Vikramaditya aka Admiral Gorshkov, which is due to make its formal appearance on the Indian shores by 4 Dec 2012, the Navy Day.

US Vs European technologies

It is an admitted fact that US aircraft have better battle-tested technologies and some systems are known to be only with its forces. US is the only country with fully operational AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radars for instance while others have them at various stages of development.

There is one US missile, Raytheon’s High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM), which has no equivalent with either the Eurofighter or Rafale. Perhaps IAF would want it, and if so, then, either France or India would have to put in requests to Washington.

US may have been disappointed at losing this big aircraft deal but hopefully should be willing to share some of its hitech systems with India.