India to wrap up MMRCA deal in four weeks: IAF Chief

[Indian Army]

India to wrap up MMRCA deal in four weeks: IAF Chief

French Dassault Rafale (Left) and European Eurofighter (Right).

BANGALORE (PTI): IAF will make public in four weeks the winner of India's biggest-ever Rs 42,000 crore military contract to acquire 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne said here.

"We are calculating very hard. There is a lot of work going on. I expect (in) another four weeks, we should be able to wrap it up", Browne told reporters here amid intense flurry among the two remaining contenders Eurofighter and Dassault's Rafale.

"By mid-December we should have very good sense of who has been selected", he said after inaugurating the 51st conference of Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine (ISAM) at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine here.

Asked if he expects cost escalation vis-a-vis the contract, the Air Chief Marshal said, "I can't tell you anything till the time we finish that work".

The Defence Ministry had shortlisted France's Dassault Aviation SA's Rafale and EADS' Eurofighter Typhoon in April.

Commercial bids from the two shortlisted vendors were opened on November four, marking the culmination of almost decade-long hunt for India's new mainline fighter.

On the process of selection, the Air Chief said there are a lot of complicated calculations and figures that needed to be checked and re-checked.

Hoping that they would make it this time

Go EuroFighter Go

 

[Jason bourne]

if winner will be declare in first week of dec.. cant it be possible for them to give us 14 fighters in 2013 ? which they r giving us ready made ?

 

[Indian Army]

if winner will be declare in first week of dec.. cant it be possible for them to give us 14 fighters in 2013 ? which they r giving us ready made ?

It will be almost impossible as existing fighters will have to be upgraded versions including aesa radar, avionics, weapon package etc and it will take another at least 3 years to complete. Someone please correct me if I am wrong....

 

[Archie]

if winner will be declare in first week of dec.. cant it be possible for them to give us 14 fighters in 2013 ? which they r giving us ready made ?

I Dont Think that it is Possible to receive fighters in 2013
You can Blame it on Antony
Had we opened the commercial Bids in April , after announcing the shortlist , then we probably would have received 6-8 Fighters in 2013
However as it stands today , If Rafale wins then we will start getting Fighters in 2014 and First sqd with 18 fighters will be operational in 2015
However if EF wins then we will have to wait till 2015 to receive first Batch coz Euro-fighter T3B that we have been offered would hit production in 2015 , and we will only get IT IN 2015 if other Partner nations allow us to receive EF T3B before them

 

[praveen007]

if it happens within this time line then it will be a record , considering Indian arms perches process.

 

[ali.jishan786]

IAF forever.................

 

[SpArK]

Before 9th next month.. Kewl we have something to cheer about during New year.

 

[ali.jishan786]

 

[deepakclaw]

by the time the last aircraft is delivered both the platforms will be 3-4 decade old designs ....thanks to swift decision making of the selectors.

 

[SpArK]

by the time the last aircraft is delivered both the platforms will be 3-4 decade old designs ....thanks to swift decision making of the selectors.

Its a nice possibility if all the development/design staff and technical staffs of EADS and Dassault sit idle for 3-4 decades.

 

[The enlightened]

Dont we have enough said on MMRCA already

 

[ptltejas]

No Man. yet we need to decide the name of new plane. where it to be put. on which airports how much fleet will be kept. against which planes it to be exchanged, not model but exactly some plane. what should be color of plane. about fleet inductions, its capacity against pak and chinise fighters threads and in that post wars. who shall fly this craft junior or senior. etc.etc.

 

[lilaspr]

I Dont Think that it is Possible to receive fighters in 2013
You can Blame it on Antony

New defense minister Antony is one of the best thing that happened to Indian politics. He is very clever and shrewd. He alone can't change full system. But as i see he pushes everything from DRDO to IAF.
If you see DRDO gives better results- once he took the office.

 

[deepakclaw]

sir antony is doing a far better job... most defence deals are at fast track in recent times

 

[sancho]

if winner will be declare in first week of dec.. cant it be possible for them to give us 14 fighters in 2013 ? which they r giving us ready made ?

The production of 18 fighters is not an issue, since both Dassault and the EF consortium has the necessary capacities and their fighters don't need major airframe changes that has to be developed and tested first (like it would have been the case with Gripen IN or Mig 35). The MMRCA RFP even says, the first squad must be available 3 years after the contract was signed and that most likely happens only early 2012, so enough time for the production, but there are other problems!

The EF upgrades offered in MMRCA are mainly not developed yet and especially the AESA radar is only in an early stage so far. The consortium says it will be available in 2015, but it is more realistic that the first EF squad might only be T3As without AESA and that the first squad will be upgraded later with it. So first EF with AESA in India, might come with the licence production only and that is aimed on 2017.
Rafale offers a clear advantage here, AESA is ready developed and in production now. First French Rafales with AESA radar are expeced in 2013, so for India the first delivery of a Rafale with everything they offered to us is possible in time, if required even earlier!