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ref:India takes a NAM-style route on $11bn fighter contract | John Elliott | Independent The Foreign Desk Blogs
Salaam......
India takes a NAM-style route on $11bn fighter contract
By John Elliott from Riding the Elephant blog
The Foreign Desk
Thursday, 28 April 2011 at 1:59 pm
India used to be a proud leader of the old Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), standing notionally between the US and Soviet blocs, but always tilting towards Moscow.
It is therefore both apt and heartening to hear today reports that the government is taking a truly NAM-style route on an $11bn contract for fighter jets by rejecting bids from both Americas Lockheed Martin F-16s and Boeing F-18s and Russias MiG-35s.
This is a diplomatically brave decision that most observers never expected after India signed its nuclear power deal with the US in 2008. Numerous US officials from President Barack Obama downwards have lobbied hard for the $11bn multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) contract, indicating that it was expected as a nuclear thank-you. What seemed most likely therefore was that Lockheed or Boeing would be included until the end of the process and that the US would not give up until it had driven other bidders out of the contest.
The US offerings however did not match up to required standards during flight testing nor did the MiGs. The Griffin fighter from Saab of Sweden has also been rejected. The contest is now between Typhoon jets from the four-nation EADS Eurofighter consortium (Germany, Spain, UK and Italy) and Rafale from Dassault of France. Indias MoD is believed to have been impressed with the Typhoon, while the IAF has strong links with Dassault, whose Mirage fighters have been successfully in service in India since the early 1980s and are now being upgraded.
Rejection of the US companies therefore shows a degree of sophisticated detached decision-making from the Ministry of Defences minister, A.J.Antony. Together with his senior acquisition officials, he seems determined to clear a logjam of pending defence contracts, and to do so in a way that shows rare integrity in a country that has become internationally infamous for widespread corruption. The clean record of Antony, and of at least some of his top officials, is important because there are bound to be allegations of corruption, especially since there was a scandal in the early 1980s over the Mirage deal.
Curiously the US ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer, chose today to announce his resignation for personal, professional and family considerations. That is being widely interpreted as a reaction to the loss of the MRCA contract, as well as the failure of the India-US nuclear deal to generate increased defence co-operation between the two countries, plus nuclear power plant contracts for US companies.
However, I am told that Roemers resignation has been expected for some weeks because, as a senior Democratic politician, he is returning to the US to work on Obamas re-election campaign. If that is so, it was surely silly to announce the departure today.
In any case the defence industry expects sops to be announced for the US very soon, notably a $5bn order for ten Boeing C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft with an additional order for a further six aircraft, both being placed through the negotiated government-to-government foreign military sales (FMS) route without competitive tenders. Lockheed is also expected to receive further negotiated orders for its C-130J Hercules transport aircraft, six of which are already contracted. Russia might be disappointed that its MiGs have been rejected, but it already has substantial orders for current and future jet fighters.
Despite the personal and political angle for his departure, Roemer cannot have helped Americas cause when he was reported recently by WikiLeaks saying the Indias aerospace industry was two to three decades behind the US and other western countries, adding that Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), the governments aircraft manufacturing company, was untested and suspect as a partner for advanced aircraft. All that is true but it must have upset HAL and the defence establishment.
However, to come back to my main point, the decisions which have yet to be officially confirmed do show an unexpected independence from US influence that had not been expected when the nuclear deal was struck. It has not been a good year so far for India with all the current corruption scandals, but this indicates that, in international diplomacy, it is keeping the US firmly in its place.
Salaam......
India takes a NAM-style route on $11bn fighter contract
By John Elliott from Riding the Elephant blog
The Foreign Desk
Thursday, 28 April 2011 at 1:59 pm
India used to be a proud leader of the old Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), standing notionally between the US and Soviet blocs, but always tilting towards Moscow.
It is therefore both apt and heartening to hear today reports that the government is taking a truly NAM-style route on an $11bn contract for fighter jets by rejecting bids from both Americas Lockheed Martin F-16s and Boeing F-18s and Russias MiG-35s.
This is a diplomatically brave decision that most observers never expected after India signed its nuclear power deal with the US in 2008. Numerous US officials from President Barack Obama downwards have lobbied hard for the $11bn multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) contract, indicating that it was expected as a nuclear thank-you. What seemed most likely therefore was that Lockheed or Boeing would be included until the end of the process and that the US would not give up until it had driven other bidders out of the contest.
The US offerings however did not match up to required standards during flight testing nor did the MiGs. The Griffin fighter from Saab of Sweden has also been rejected. The contest is now between Typhoon jets from the four-nation EADS Eurofighter consortium (Germany, Spain, UK and Italy) and Rafale from Dassault of France. Indias MoD is believed to have been impressed with the Typhoon, while the IAF has strong links with Dassault, whose Mirage fighters have been successfully in service in India since the early 1980s and are now being upgraded.
Rejection of the US companies therefore shows a degree of sophisticated detached decision-making from the Ministry of Defences minister, A.J.Antony. Together with his senior acquisition officials, he seems determined to clear a logjam of pending defence contracts, and to do so in a way that shows rare integrity in a country that has become internationally infamous for widespread corruption. The clean record of Antony, and of at least some of his top officials, is important because there are bound to be allegations of corruption, especially since there was a scandal in the early 1980s over the Mirage deal.
Curiously the US ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer, chose today to announce his resignation for personal, professional and family considerations. That is being widely interpreted as a reaction to the loss of the MRCA contract, as well as the failure of the India-US nuclear deal to generate increased defence co-operation between the two countries, plus nuclear power plant contracts for US companies.
However, I am told that Roemers resignation has been expected for some weeks because, as a senior Democratic politician, he is returning to the US to work on Obamas re-election campaign. If that is so, it was surely silly to announce the departure today.
In any case the defence industry expects sops to be announced for the US very soon, notably a $5bn order for ten Boeing C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft with an additional order for a further six aircraft, both being placed through the negotiated government-to-government foreign military sales (FMS) route without competitive tenders. Lockheed is also expected to receive further negotiated orders for its C-130J Hercules transport aircraft, six of which are already contracted. Russia might be disappointed that its MiGs have been rejected, but it already has substantial orders for current and future jet fighters.
Despite the personal and political angle for his departure, Roemer cannot have helped Americas cause when he was reported recently by WikiLeaks saying the Indias aerospace industry was two to three decades behind the US and other western countries, adding that Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), the governments aircraft manufacturing company, was untested and suspect as a partner for advanced aircraft. All that is true but it must have upset HAL and the defence establishment.
However, to come back to my main point, the decisions which have yet to be officially confirmed do show an unexpected independence from US influence that had not been expected when the nuclear deal was struck. It has not been a good year so far for India with all the current corruption scandals, but this indicates that, in international diplomacy, it is keeping the US firmly in its place.
