Rafale deal: Antony refuses govt guarantee to France

[FNFAL]

Better for IAF to get directly from France about 200 Rafaels.

How old are you?

 

[Abingdonboy]

Deal for 126 Rafale fighters close to being signed

NEW DELHI: France and India are fully on track to seal the deal for the around $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project, under which IAF will acquire 126 Rafale fighter jets, French ambassador Francios Richier said.
"Negotiations have recently achieved significant progress. We are looking to sign the intergovernmental agreement together with the commercial contract for the planes," said Richier, speaking exclusively to TOI.
Reacting to recent reports [see post #5371] that France had asked the Indian government to sign a government guarantee to safeguard the negotiations for the fighters, Richier denied that any such agreement was asked for. "We have worked very closely with all Indian governments, so we have no reason to ask for such an agreement," he said.
[...]
Eurofighter Typhoon as well as the US fighters that lost out in the long-drawn selection process are eagerly waiting in the wings in the hope of staging a comeback in the dogfight over the world's biggest such tender.
But there seems little possibility of that happening now, with India having invested almost a decade in finally selecting the Rafale after extensive technical and commercial evaluation. Down to just 34 fighter squadrons at present when it requires at least 44, IAF is banking upon the MMRCA project to retain its combat edge against adversaries.

from:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...w/33043249.cms




So where are these reports coming from? They seem to be utter fabrications. Time and again such stories have turned out to be utterly baseless.