MRCA Jet Deal Could Be Split: Ex-NSA told US

Although US firms lost out on India's mega fighter deal, former national security adviser M K Narayanan had told US diplomats that the $10 billion buy could be split into two contracts and that he would ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to keep both price and quality in mind.

The US aircraft were finally knocked on technical grounds, but higher pricing of fighters like the F-18 series put them at a disadvantage with regard to European rivals and discussion on the deal came up before Singh's Washington visit in 2009. According to WikiLeaks, a US cable from New Delhi spoke of undersecretary Bill Burns meeting with Narayanan to preview the visit during which Narayanan expressed personal interest in "counterterrorism deliverables" and suggested the Indian government may ultimately split the tender.

Narayanan also assured Burns of progress on civil nuclear cooperation ahead of the visit, including the imminent public announcement of reactor park sites for US firms and requested lifting of restrictions on high technology trade and expanded space cooperation.

In an indication of the clout he enjoyed in the PMO, Narayanan offered his personal assistance in brokering inter-ministerial approval of the counterterrorism deliverable, the proposed Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation Initiative.

In the one-on-one meeting, Narayanan suggested that the fighter tender may be split between two recipients, and that he would recommend that PM Singh take into consideration "both price and quality".

India had no "confrontation" with the US on outer space, and nothing stood in the way of further cooperation and this could fill the void left by the completion of the civil nuclear cooperation agreement. 

The Times OF India

IAF to Chose From Eurofighter and Rafael: MRCA

After exhaustive trials of six fighter jets, Indian Air Force (IAF) has made its choice clear to the Government on the kind of fighter jets needed. Frontrunners for the force are French fighter Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon built by the European consortium. Bernhard Gerwert, Chief, EADS, says “If you are taking into account the portfolio of EADS we can bring the bridge between civil aviation and military aviation.” But the Americans and Russians have lost out. Boeing’s F18 no longer a frontrunner and Sweden’s Gripen too falling off the Indian radar.

Despite MiG 35s big thunder, its engine failing to impress while the F-16, according to the IAF has no future. Another reason favouring Rafale and Eurofighter is political. Thomas Matussek, German Ambassador, “We regard India as a strategic security partner and this is why we do not insist on an end user monitoring agreement period.” So when the mother of all defence deals is signed for the 126 Multi-Role Combat Aircraft either Rafale or the Eurofighter will fly away with the Rs 42,000 crore deal.

MRCA Contenders At Aero-India 2011

India MRCA Contest Will Be Decided Soon

India said  It would begin crucial contract negotiations in the next fortnight for an estimated $12 billion order for 126 fighter jets.

The announcement came a day after Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony said the long-delayed contract to modernise India's decades-old aircraft fleet would be handed out during the next fiscal year starting April 1.
"The contract negotiation committee will begin discussions in a week or two," Indian Airforce chief P.V. Naik told reporters on the sidelines of South Asia's biggest airshow in Bangalore, the hub of India's aviation industry.

Six global aeronautical companies, which are in a dogfight to grab the deal to sell the 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), each claimed at the airshow that their products were the world's best.
"The Indian airforce is very pleased with the performance of the F-16 and we are hopeful of being shortlisted," said Orville Prins of U.S-based Lockheed Martin which wants to sell its frontline fighter jet to India.

India, the biggest buyer of military hardware among emerging nations, issued the request for proposals to the six firms in 2007 and the long-awaited trials of the aircraft competing for the deal began a year later.
Industry sources say the F-16 and Seattle-based Boeing, which is offering its F-18 "Superhornet," have emerged as front-runners after the gruelling trials.

The contract includes the outright purchase of 18 combat aircraft by 2012 with another 108 to be built in India. India would also have an option to buy 64 more such jets.

 




The other companies bidding include France's Dassault Aviation, pan-European manufacturer Eurofighter Typhoon and Sweden's Saab.

Saab will have the "technological lead in five years," said Peter Nilsson, an executive from the Swedish firm.
India also announced Thursday it is set to agree a contract with Dassault for the upgrade of its fleet of Mirage fighter aircraft but would not disclose the value of the deal.

Russia, a longtime military supplier to India, pipped its Western rivals last December when it signed a mammoth agreement with New Delhi to co-produce some 250 stealth fighter jets worth $30 billion by 2017.

Indian Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Fifth Generation Stealth Fighter Jet Program Cleared

India has reportedly cleared a fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA)to be developed by 2017 whose total cost is estimated at $2bn. 

According to a news report in The Hindu newspaper, the Govt of India has released Rs. 100 crore($20 million) last month to the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), an Indian government controlled research body which has also developed the LCA Tejus fourth generation fighter.

"AMCA, when developed and produced, would probably be the first medium combat aircraft with 20 tonne weight in the world. Similar aircraft being developed by the United States and Russia are in the range of 30 to 35 tonnes," PS Subramanyam, ADA Director and Programme Director (Combat Aircraft), was quoted as saying in the news report.

 

 

 

 The AMCA is to be a twin-engined 5th generation stealth multirole fighter, which will complement the HAL Tejas, the Sukhoi/HAL FGFA, the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, and other aircraft in the Indian Air Force. 

 

 

 

 

SOURCE

IAF plans to buy 260 of MMRCA Aircrafts

It is already known as the world’s biggest defence import deal in a long time. Now, it transpires, it is even bigger than that. The Indian Air Force is in the market to buy 126 Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) from one of six foreign vendors bidding for the contract. 

 

 

 

 

Over time, however, the IAF plans to buy 260 of them, Deccan Chronicle has learnt. That means, what has been talked about as a $10-12 billion deal will eventually fetch the winner of the contract close to $25 billion.

While the IAF floated a request for proposal (RFP) for only 126 fighters, sources privy to the armed forces’ Long-Term Integrated Perspective Plan said that that document puts the number of medium fighter jets the IAF needs at is 260. Ministry of defence officials, however, refused to confirm that there was any plan beyond the current RFP.

America’s Lockheed Martin (F-16) and Boeing (F/A-18), the 4-nation Eurofighter consortium (Typhoon), France’s Dassault (Rafale), Sweden's SAAB (Gripen) and Russia’s Mikoyan-Gureyvich (MiG-35) are locked in a high-intensity public relations as well as behind-the-scenes war to win the contract. 

Air Chief P.V. Naik had on Thursday said that the Contract Negotiations Committee would achieve key milestones towards evaluating the packages offered by the various vendors in a week or two and that the contract would be ready for signing by September, except if "dissatisfied vendors put a spoke in the wheel". 

That, sources said, looked almost inevitable given the size of the contract and what it could do to the fortunes of the winner. It could potentially keep alive assembly lines for some fighters from the 1970s/1980s vintage for another 30 years, ensuring that some 25,000 to 30,000 people would find employment in what are currently stricken economies in the US and Europe. 

The sources also said that the eventual number of the frontline air superiority Sukhoi-30 MKIs from Russia in the IAF's fleet would also go up to 280. 

The IAF would need these higher numbers of combat jets of different classes considering that it has to plan for threats coming from two fronts.

India’s MRCA To Be Known By Month End

India’s choice of the Medium-Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMCA) under its largest-ever military fighter deal for procuring 126 such planes at an estimated USD 11 billion is expected to be known by the “end of this month”.”We are looking to start the commercial negotiations by the end of this month,” Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said at an event at Indian Women Press Corps(IWPC) today. Under the Defence Procurement procedure (DPP), the Ministry holds commercial negotiations with the company offering the lowest price for the product on offer and meeting the service requirements. The IAF Chief said if the losing companies don’t try to “put spokes in the wheel”, the deal would be signed within his tenure, which ends in July this year.

IAF Rejects Upgrades to Original M-MRCA Multi-billion Dollar Deal

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will not accept any last-minute offers from contenders for the multibillion-dollar deal for purchase of 126 medium-multirole combat aircraft (M-MRCA).

"No offers for upgrades or changes in the original bid submitted by the six aircraft companies would be allowed as their aircraft have been judged on the basis of capabilities offered in the original bid and their performance in the field trials," IAF sources added.

IAF has even rejected a bidder's proposal to equip its warplanes with a more powerful jet engine.

A report on the process of evaluation for the deal has been submitted to the Indian Defence Ministry, which is expected to start contract negotiations soon after going through technical evaluation and field trial reports of the six aircraft.

The six aircraft that are competing for the deal are Lockheed's F-16, Boeing F/A-18 E/F, Dassault's Rafale, Saab Gripen, Rosoboronexport MiG 35 and EADS Eurofighter Typhoon.

India is planning to procure 126 M-MRCA for IAF in an $11bn deal.

Eurofighter Reveals Navalised Typhoon For MMRCA Competition

The Eurofighter  is offering India the opportunity to acquire a new version of its Typhoon for use from a future indigenous aircraft carrier, with the first firm details of the proposal having emerged at the show.

One of six contenders battling for the Indian air force's 126-aircraft medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal, Eurofighter is here touting the potential of a navalised development which has already been studied in detail in the UK.

"If Typhoon wins MMRCA then India will have the indigenous skills to develop a navalised version," says Paul Hopkins, BAE Systems' vice-president business development (air) India. "This is a perfect opportunity for the nation to add aircraft with both land and sea capabilities."

Being shown in model form for the first time this week, the European type would receive several new features to support its proposed life at sea. These include a new, stronger landing gear, a modified arrestor hook and thrust-vectoring control nozzles for its two Eurojet EJ200 turbofan engines. The latter would enable the fighter to approach the vessel at a reduced speed without restricting pilot vision by requiring an increased angle of attack.

Eurofighter says only localised strengthening would be required on some fuselage sections near the landing gear, and to the EJ200. Conformal fuel tanks could also be integrated with the airframe to extend the strike aircraft's range.

Video footage being shown in the Eurofighter and BAE exhibit areas includes recent simulation-based imagery of tests made using adapted flight control software and new engine modelling. Sporting Indian navy markings, the navalised Typhoon is depicted taking off from a deck space similar to that aboard the ex-Russian navy aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, which is now being modified for Indian use.

Russian MIG-35 Out Of Indian MRCA

Russian MiG-35 fighter jet faces an uncertain future after missing out on a lucrative contract with India.

The Asian country, which has long been a major trading partner for the Russian defence sector, had planned the biggest arms contract of the century, ordering 126 mid-range multipurpose fighters at a cost of more than $10 billion.

But the MiG bid was shot down by the French Rafale and the Typhoon Eurofighter, built by an Italian-British consortium.

And apart from the immediate loss of business, the news provokes fears that the Russian jet might now be a hard sell elsewhere in the world.

Unfounded confidence

Russia had good grounds to believe the MiG-35 would win the contract, Kommersant reported.

Analysts at home and in India pointed to competitive prices and proven combat experience, while Moscow had sold Delhi the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier and leased a nuclear submarine to the Indian navy in recent years.

Indeed, Russia was so confident that the MiG-35 would triumph that it did not send representatives to the Aero India 2011 airshow in Bangalore.

But on Thursday night Rosoboronexport, Russia’s military export company, received an official rebuff from India’s defence ministry, with a detailed 14-point breakdown of the flaws in the offer.

Fighter project grounded?

The knock-on effects could go far beyond merely the loss of one contract: landing the India deal would have kept the jet’s price tag down, enabling Russia’s Defence Ministry to buy up to 100 fighters on the (relatively) cheap.

However, that contract has not been signed, and if missing the Indian money pushes the plane’s price up it could force military bosses to reconsider.

Technology analyst Konstantin Makiyenko told Vedomosti that the blow might even see MiG forced into a merger with Sukhoi, which is currently promoting its Superjet-100 passenger craft to civil airlines.

Short-term success

As well as rejecting the MiGs, India also turned down proposals from US firms Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

But backing Euro technology – which is almost twice as expensive as the Russian offer – could be part of a longer-term strategic project.

Vinay Shukla of the Press Trust of India told Kommersant that India wanted to develop its own light fighter jet.

Saab Targets Smaller Gripen Orders After Losing Indian MRCA

Swedish maker of the Gripen jet fighter, is focusing on winning smaller orders from as many as nine countries after being excluded from India’s military program, Chief Executive Officer Hakan Buskhe said.

Saab sees potential for Gripen orders in Brazil, Romania, Croatia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Czech Republic, Buskhe said in an interview today. Hungary and the Czech Republic are existing customers that may expand their orders, he said.

“We feel good about the Gripen program, it has lots of potential,” Buskhe said, adding that it “remains a profitable business.”

India’s defense ministry informed Saab April 27 that the Gripen hadn’t been shortlisted for its plan to buy 126 jets.

India is focusing on France’s Dassault Aviation SA (AM) and the European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. after also turning down Boeing Co. (BA) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), Buskhe said

Saab still has a “good chance” to win an order from Brazil, which initially plans to buy 36 planes, Buskhe said. The Stockholm-based company has “not received any negative signals” from Brazil, and hopes for a decision “within months,” the CEO said.

India Selects Euro-Fighter Typhoon, Rafale For MMRCA Shortlist

The Indian Ministry of Defense has issued letters, on Wednesday, to two of the six vendors competing in the estimated USD 10 billion Indian Air Force (IAF) tender for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), asking them to extend the validity of their commercial bids, which will expire on Thursday, tomorrow.

  According to the IAF and the ministry, the other aircraft in the fray, the US Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, the US Lockheed Martin Corporation’s F-16, the Russian MiG-35 and the Swedish SAAB’s Gripen did not pass the technical evaluation conducted by the IAF.

It is noteworthy that this comes just a day before the commercial bids of all six vendors were to expire.

It would not be unsurprising if this move by the ministry and it’s coincidentally sharp timing were to raise the hackles of the spurned vendors. Industry insiders are already expecting to see a robust response from these vendors and their countries of origin, at least in private, to this decision.

One question some of the vendors losing out are already asking is why the ministry asked all the vendors to resubmit their offset proposals early this month if they already knew the outcome of the technical evaluation submitted by the IAF last summer, and waited till a day before the expiry of the commercial bids to effectively announce a shortlist by inviting extension of commercial bids from only two vendors.

The commercial bids of the other four vendors will lapse on Thursday, tomorrow.

Something else the uninvited vendors are ready to question is the basis for judging technical compliance, with robust speculation that none of the MMRCA-6 aircraft were actually completely compliant with the IAF’s 643 parameters listed in the Air Staff Qualitative Requirements (ASQRs) for the tender.

U.S. Fighter Jet Makers Out of Indian MRCA Fighter Jet Deal

 

India has decided against considering fighter jets manufactured by The Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin Corporation for a $11 billion order and is narrowing down its choice to two European-made planes- France's Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon.

 

Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin’s F-16 Super Viper – both of which are powered by General Electric engines – lost out to two European airplanes that are still under consideration by the Indian military. GE Aviation was expecting to see a healthy order flow if either of the U.S. competitors was awarded the contract.

HAL Plans Four New Manufacturing Plants For MMRCA And MCA

 

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has plans to set up four manufacturing plants for the production of medium multi-role combat aircraft, light utility helicopter, fifth generation fighter aircraft and multi-role transport aircraft, a senior company official said today.

HAL Director (Design & Development), N C Agarwal, said the Bangalore-headquartered company, under the Ministry of Defence, is looking to set up a new complex for MMRCA.

Government is to buy 18 aircraft under the MMRCA programme from a foreign manufacturer, with the remaining 108 to be produced by HAL under licence.

He said the HAL is scouting for a location for manufacture of light utility helicopter (LUH), and once it''s identified, government approval would be sought.

Separate factories have also been proposed for fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) and multi-role transport aircraft he said, adding, as per initial plans, MTA would be manufactured in Kanpur and FGFA in Nasik.

Agarwal said work has started on the preliminary design of FGFA. "Russian team is here (in Bangalore) to train our people", he told PTI.

FGFA is a USD six billion project, to be equally shared by India and Russia.

FGFA would have advanced features such as stealth, super cruise, ultra-manoeuvrability, highly integrated avionics suite, enhanced situational awareness, internal carriage of weapons and network centric warfare capabilities, officials said.

Biggest deal: IAF may buy 189 jets for $20bn

The "mother" could well become the "granny" of all defence deals in the years ahead. India is likely to go in for another 63 fighters after delivery of the first 126 MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) if the "timelines" for its other fighter development projects are not met, say top defence officials.

When the MMRCA selection process was initiated by the defence ministry in mid-2007, the overall project cost was pegged at Rs 42,000 crore, or $10.4 billion for 126 fighters. But it will zoom well beyond $20 billion, if India eventually decides to opt for 189 jets since inflation is also being factored in. Even with 126 jets, this is the biggest such fighter contract going around the world as of now.

This comes even as MoD is all set to open the commercial bids of the two jets left in the MMRCA fray -French Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon -"within a week or two". Eurofighter Typhoon is backed by the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy,

MoD has already rejected "any scope for comeback" by the other four jets, including the American F/A-18s and F-16s, ejected out of the MMRCA race in April on technical grounds after gruelling field trials.

"We are looking for only 126 fighters. The first 18 jets will come from abroad, while the rest 108 will be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd after transfer of technology (ToT) from end-2016 or early-2017 onwards," said a senior MoD official on Monday.

"But yes, if the timelines for the Tejas LCA (light combat aircraft) and the stealth Indo-Russian FGFA (fifth-generation fighter aircraft) projects are not met, we will go for more MMRCA to retain IAF's combat edge," he added.

Apart from progressively inducting 272 Sukhoi-30MKIs contracted from Russia for around $12 billion, IAF is slated to induct the first lot of 120 indigenous Tejas from end-2013 onwards. India also hopes to begin inducting 250 to 300 FGFA from 2020 onwards under the joint project with Russia, which rough calculations show will eventually cost India around $35 billion in the decades ahead.

But that is in the future. The request for proposal (RFP) for the ongoing MMRCA competition, issued in August 2007, did have the standard clause of India reserving the option to go in for 50% more fighters, over and above the initial 126, in the coming years.

This, however, is the first time that top defence officials have directly linked the progress in the LCA and FGFA projects to the possibility of exceeding the MMRCA acquisition beyond the first 126 jets.

"Commercial bids of Eurofighter and Rafale will soon be opened, with the reports of the Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) and Technical Offsets Evaluation Committee (TOEC) virtually complete now," said another official.

But it will not be "a cut-and-dried" affair to determine the lowest bidder (L-1). "Calculation of L-1 will take around a month due to the huge amounts of mathematical and data verification of the lifecycle costs of operating the jets over a 40-year period, with 6,000 hours of flying, as well as cost of ToT," he added.

Final commercial negotiations with the L-1 vendor will then begin before the contract is ready for signing by December or January. IAF, on its part, wants deliveries of the 126 fighters to begin from December, 2014, onwards to stem its fast-eroding combat edge. Plans have already been firmed up to base the first MMRCA squadron at Ambala, with subsequent squadrons coming up both in the western and eastern theatres.

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