anant_s
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Poster's note:
at the onset, my apologies for starting yet another thread on Rafale and not on the sticky, but i wish to bring it notice of members about bad publicity going on against the Fighter creating confusion.
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Amid sniping by rivals, France aims to close Rafale deal by early 2015
The sticking point is Dassault's reluctance to accept responsibility for the 108 fighters to be built by HAL as far as liquidity damages and timelines for production are concerned.
NEW DELHI: The geopolitical wrangling and heartburn over India's mother of all defence deals, the lucrative $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project, is still not over. First, it was the Americans, then the Europeans and now, the Russians.
Even as India and France inch forward to stitch up the contract for acquisition of 126 Rafale fighters for the IAF, Russian ambassador Alexander Kadakin last week publicly questioned New Delhi's decision to go in for the French jets. The Rafales can be "swatted like mosquitoes on an August night" by the Russian-origin Sukhoi-27s, now being inducted by China, said Kadakin.
On Wednesday, it was French ambassador Francois Richier's turn to hit back. He criticized "grumpy competitors", who had lost out in the MMRCA competition after extensive technical and commercial evaluation, for using "bad language" against the French fighter's combat capabilities. Rafale's "long-range strike capabilities" have been amply demonstrated in conflicts ranging from Afghanistan to Iraq, said Richier.
With the MMRCA contract still to be inked after almost three years of final commercial negotiations between French major Dassault Aviation and the Indian defence establishment, rival fighters still harbor some hopes of flying back into the competition.
But, as earlier reported by TOI, there can be "no comebacks" in the ongoing MMRCA project as per the Indian defence procurement policy rules. India can either ink the deal for the Rafales or scrap the entire MMRCA selection process undertaken over the last 7-8 years.
France, on its part, hopes the final MMRCA negotiations will be concluded by early next year. "The negotiations are progressing well. The Dassault CEO was in India a few weeks ago to interact with MoD, IAF, HAL. We are going in the right direction," said Richier.
"It is a very big complex project, with transfer of technology (ToT), partnerships and offsets ... It takes time. The final Mirage-2000 upgrade negotiations also took three years (the 51 Mirages of IAF are now being upgraded by HAL, with the help of Dassault, Thales and MBDA, at a total cost of Rs 17,547 crore)," he added.
MoD sources say 90% of the draft MMRCA contract is ready, with ToT, offsets and other issues all settled, and even the inter-governmental agreement with France has been finalized.
But the sticking point is Dassault's reluctance to accept responsibility for the 108 fighters to be built by HAL as far as liquidity damages and timelines for production are concerned. "It's a contract management issue which needs to be resolved...negotiations are in progress," said a source.
Amid sniping by rivals, France aims to close Rafale deal by early 2015 - The Times of India
at the onset, my apologies for starting yet another thread on Rafale and not on the sticky, but i wish to bring it notice of members about bad publicity going on against the Fighter creating confusion.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amid sniping by rivals, France aims to close Rafale deal by early 2015
The sticking point is Dassault's reluctance to accept responsibility for the 108 fighters to be built by HAL as far as liquidity damages and timelines for production are concerned.
NEW DELHI: The geopolitical wrangling and heartburn over India's mother of all defence deals, the lucrative $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project, is still not over. First, it was the Americans, then the Europeans and now, the Russians.
Even as India and France inch forward to stitch up the contract for acquisition of 126 Rafale fighters for the IAF, Russian ambassador Alexander Kadakin last week publicly questioned New Delhi's decision to go in for the French jets. The Rafales can be "swatted like mosquitoes on an August night" by the Russian-origin Sukhoi-27s, now being inducted by China, said Kadakin.
On Wednesday, it was French ambassador Francois Richier's turn to hit back. He criticized "grumpy competitors", who had lost out in the MMRCA competition after extensive technical and commercial evaluation, for using "bad language" against the French fighter's combat capabilities. Rafale's "long-range strike capabilities" have been amply demonstrated in conflicts ranging from Afghanistan to Iraq, said Richier.
With the MMRCA contract still to be inked after almost three years of final commercial negotiations between French major Dassault Aviation and the Indian defence establishment, rival fighters still harbor some hopes of flying back into the competition.
But, as earlier reported by TOI, there can be "no comebacks" in the ongoing MMRCA project as per the Indian defence procurement policy rules. India can either ink the deal for the Rafales or scrap the entire MMRCA selection process undertaken over the last 7-8 years.
France, on its part, hopes the final MMRCA negotiations will be concluded by early next year. "The negotiations are progressing well. The Dassault CEO was in India a few weeks ago to interact with MoD, IAF, HAL. We are going in the right direction," said Richier.
"It is a very big complex project, with transfer of technology (ToT), partnerships and offsets ... It takes time. The final Mirage-2000 upgrade negotiations also took three years (the 51 Mirages of IAF are now being upgraded by HAL, with the help of Dassault, Thales and MBDA, at a total cost of Rs 17,547 crore)," he added.
MoD sources say 90% of the draft MMRCA contract is ready, with ToT, offsets and other issues all settled, and even the inter-governmental agreement with France has been finalized.
But the sticking point is Dassault's reluctance to accept responsibility for the 108 fighters to be built by HAL as far as liquidity damages and timelines for production are concerned. "It's a contract management issue which needs to be resolved...negotiations are in progress," said a source.
Amid sniping by rivals, France aims to close Rafale deal by early 2015 - The Times of India
Someone please wake me up when the deal is finalised! 
