Eyeing lucrative IAF jet deal, France, Germany spar in public
The scene may heat up further, as German Chancellor comes to India next week
The Germans and the French may have relinquished battlefield animosity long ago, but on Friday they regaled the media in New Delhi with their old ways. The German and French diplomats took swipe at each other while promising moon to India. All this effort was worth US$12 billion for a deal for 126 multi-role fighter jets that the Indian Air Force (IAF) wants to buy. French company Dassault Aviation’s Rafale and the German-led European consortium EADS’s Eurofighter Typhoon have been shortlisted by India, while rejecting American, Swedish and Russian variants...
...The German envoy said that the rules of engagement did make his country and his partners different. “The purchase of defence and security-related equipment requires an end-user certificate. All over the world, exporters insist on this. But, we will not insist on monitoring and on-spot inspections. For example, we have sold you communication equipment. That distances us from our competitors,” he said.
Admitting that the deal has political overtones, the ambassador was candid enough to admit the countries associated with Eurofighter consider it a very important political partnership. “We are here also taking about political relationships with four major NATO countries and four major European countries. India will definitely benefit,” he said. “It is not only technology but political partnership as well you get when you need it the most,” he added.
Further, he said that the Eurofighter was ready to share technology with India to a degree nobody has so far offered. “We are optimistic as far as the future possibilities not just for India but whole of Asian market and beyond is concerned,” said the German ambassador.
In order to beat the French, the European defence giant is transferring some of its operations to India. The EADS has already set up a military research and development centre in Bengaluru.
Unlike the Americans, the Europeans are not insisting on signing a Logistics Supply Agreement (LSA) and a Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA). The LSA allows foreign warships, military aircraft and personnel to access Indian military bases for re-fuelling, rest and recuperation and turnover on a reciprocal basis. The CISMOA is designed to ensure that the equipment transferred to the Indian armed forces are encrypted, secure and compatible with the US military systems...