In the latest disappointment for the Rafale aircraft by Dassault, the Indian defence ministry announced Thursday that it would not be ordering the French military plane. The contract, which would have been one of France's biggest defence deals, was worth 12 billion dollars for 126 planes.
The Rafale didnt meet our usual conditions, explained the Indian defence ministry. Dassault cannot submit new proposals or offer alternatives for technical evaluations, and it is permanently shelved.
An official at the defence ministry, speaking on terms of anonymity, told AFP that the relatively high cost of the plane was the final determining factor. This brings to mind the controversial public speech by French Defence Minister Hervé Morin in September 2007, in which he admitted that the plane was very sophisticated, and hard to sell.
After india rejection Prestigious defence magzine Forecast International has claimed that Pakistan Air Force is set to induct state of the art jet fighter Rafales as its front line air deterrence. Senior officials of Dassault Aviation, Snecma, and Thales said on condition of anonymity,
France has given clearance for the sale of Rafale fighter aircrafts to Pakistan. The senior officials of Dassault Aviation, Snecma, and Thales were very tight lipid about the details of the deal because of the level of sensitivity of the issue to Pakistan. Dassault Aviation has been pressing Pakistan to buy Rafale for almost two years but due to financial and political situations, Pakistan has with held the final decision.
According to the officials of Dassault Aviation, Pakistan is expected to place an initial order for 44 Rafales and take an option on another 54 of them. PAF spokesman when contacted neither confirmed nor denied the Forecast International report.
Pakistan Observer believes that Pakistan and France are indeed discussing the Rafale sale for last six months. A private delegation of Dassault was in Islamabad for many weeks discussing primarily the Mirage 2000-5 deal. The 2000-5 mirages were offered to Pakistan without some of the offensive capabilities that PAF required, so PAF refused to go for Mirage 2000-5. Then came up the Rafale option as Dassault is very keen to sell these fighters after the inception of Euro-Fighter.