India Drops Rafale From $10 Billion Aircraft Competition

India Drops Rafale From $10 Billion Aircraft Competition

(NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI -April 17, 2009: In a major setback to France's Dassault, its Rafale military aircraft has been rejected by the Indian Air Force in its hunt to buy 126 Medium Range Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), a contract worth $10 billion. A senior Indian Defence Ministry official said Dassault was unable to give full technical bid requirements for the Rafale. (DASSAULT)

No foreign sales have yet been made. Several countries have shown interest in purchasing the Rafale. The Rafale was one of the six fighter jets competing for India's tender for 126 multi-role fighters. In April 2009, the Indian Defense Ministry announced that the Rafale was not being considered for the tender since the aircraft failed to meet the stated requirements of the Indian Air Force. Other competing aircraft, namely Mikoyan MiG-35, F-16, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, JAS 39 Gripen and Eurofighter Typhoon, qualified for the next round of evaluation. A senior Indian Defence Ministry official said Dassault was unable to give full technical bid requirements, but refused to give details. The rejection of Dassault leaves five overseas companies in the race, including Lockheed Martin, which has fielded the F-16; Boeing with the F/A-18 Super Hornet; Sweden's Saab with the Gripen; the Russian Aircraft Corp. MiG with the MiG-35; and EADS, which proposed its Eurofighter . Dassault's executive in New Delhi was unavailable for comment. The remaining bidders will move to the flight trial round of procurement, which is likely to begin in the next two months. This will be followed by weapons tests in the country of the respective manufacturers. The commercial bids would be opened only after all trials and evaluations have been completed. After price negotiations, the contract will be sent for approval to the defense minister, who will send it to the Cabinet Committee on Security for final clearance. The whole procurement could take another five years, another Defence Ministry official said. The request for proposals was floated in August 2007, and stipulated that the MMRCA should be in the range of 14 to 30 tons and would be used for air defense and air-to-surface operations. Under the terms of purchase, the first 18 aircraft will come in a fly-away condition, and the remaining 108 will be manufactured under a technology-transfer process. Out of the 108 aircraft to be license-produced in India, 74 would be single-seat and 34 twin-seat. India's state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics has been designated as the production agency that will coordinate and manufacture the license production of the aircraft.