Chandigarh: The overlapping visits of Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh to Paris and that of France’s Dassault Aviation head Eric Trappier to New Delhi this week is an indication of the augmented level of bilateral military commerce, especially of combat aircraft, between the two countries.While Singh’s October 10-12 trip to Italy and France focused, in the latter instance, on possible collaborations with its military-industrial complex to further India’s ‘Atmanirbharta’ initiative to reduce materiel imports, Trappier’s Delhi visit, between October 9-10, was focused on supplying the Indian Navy 26 Rafale-M (Maritime) fighters for embarkation on INS Vikrant, its newly commissioned aircraft carrier.Accompanied by senior Dassault executive Richard Lavaud, Trappier is believed to have held talks with top defence and foreign ministry officials, as well as the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Navy chiefs of staff, in which the delivery of 22 twin-engine, canard delta-wing Rafale-M fighters and four dual-seat trainers featured prominently. However, no official statement on these meetings have, so far, been provided.Rajnath Singh with the CEOs of the top French defence companies including Eric Trappier, CEO of Dassault, Pierre Eric Pommellet, CEO of Naval Group, Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus, and Olivier Andries, CEO of Safran Group.Dassault is also a frontrunner for the IAF’s long-pending requirement for 114 multi-role fighter aircraft (MRFA) with its Rafale. In 2016, India bought 36 via an inter-governmental agreement or IGA for around $9 billion and divided them between two squadrons at Ambala and Hasimara Air Force Stations. Further strengthening Dassault’s credentials for the MRFA buy was the fact that it had already established a Rafale flight training and maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at Ambala, which would go a long way towards reducing overall costs for all further similar fighter buys.And, more importantly, acquiring tried and tested Rafales would also hasten fighter inductions by dispensing with extended trials, to speedily boost the IAFs declining fighter squadrons, which had depreciated to 29-30, from a sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons. Additionally, industry officials said acquiring supplementary Rafales would also streamline the IAFs diverse fighter catalogue, which presently features seven different aircraft types, sustaining all of which was not only an enduring logistical nightmare, but also a hugely expensive affair for the financially overstretched force.The IAF has had a long-established association with Dassault, which began in 1953 with the arrival at Ambala of the first of some 104 of its MD 450 Ouragan fighter-bombers. Renamed Toofani – a direct translation from the aircraft’s French name, meaning Hurricane and also because Ouragan was difficult for IAF technicians and other personnel to pronounce – these fighters remained in service till the mid-1960’s and continued thereafter as advanced trainers and as target tugs.Also read: India, France Announce Deals for Submarines and Jet Engines, but Silent on Rafale Naval JetsThe Toofanis – of which 33 were acquired in refurbished condition – were replaced 1957 onwards by an equal number of Dassault Mystere IVA’s which were the first transonic aircraft, powered by Rolls-Royce Tay turbojets, to be commissioned into the French Air Force in the early 1950s. The IAF employed the Mystere’s extensively in the 1965 war with Pakistan and in a limited role during the subsequent 1971 operations, before eventually retiring them in 1973.After a hiatus of a little over a decade, the IAF began inducting some 50-odd Mirage-2000Hs (Hindustan’s) in 1986, which are presently being upgraded by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bangalore via a transfer of technology from Dassault under a $2.5 billion contract signed in 2011. This retrofit was scheduled for completion by end-2021, but has been delayed and awaits conclusion.The Mirage-2000Hs were, in turn followed up with 36 Rafales, including six twin-seat trainers, all of which had been commissioned into service by late 2022.Representative image of a Rafale Marine aircraft. Photo: By US Navy/Wikimedia Commons, Public DomainIndustry officials, meanwhile, indicated that Trappier was eyeing the IAFs MRFA procurement that envisages importing a squadron of 18 shortlisted fighters in flyaway condition from amongst seven models on offer from overseas original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), in response to the forces April 2018 request for information. The remaining 96 platforms would be built indigenously, via a collaborative venture between the qualified OEM and a domestic strategic partner from either the private or public sector, with progressively enhanced levels of indigenisation, in the deal, estimated at around $25 billion.The MRFA tender is expected imminently, industry sources said, and senior IAF officers estimate that these numbers could increase to around 200 units, in addition to possible export options, resulting in the platforms cost amortisation. Recent media reports, quoting official sources, revealed that even though the IAF planned on inducting some 180 variants of the indigenously developed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft to replace legacy fighters like the ground attack MiG-21s and SEPECAT Jaguars, the MRFA acquisition remained ‘on stream’.The six other OEMs, besides Dassault, who had responded to the IAF’s request for information include Eurofighter (Typhoon), Sweden’s Saab (Gripen-E), Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation and Sukhoi Corporation (MiG-35 ‘Fulcrum-F’ and Su-35’ Flanker-E’) and the US’s Boeing and Lockheed Martin (F/A-18 and F-15EX and the upgraded F-21).But in view of the ongoing war in Ukraine, evaluating the two Russian fighter types for eventual IAF acquisition was, justifiably irrational, considering the grave spares and components crisis the force is facing with regard to its fleet of some 260 multi-role Sukhoi-30 MKI’s and 50-odd upgraded MiG-29M fighter-bombers. At his annual press conference last week Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhuri declared that the IAF planned on locally upgrading 84 of its 260-odd Su-30MKI’s to ‘Super Sukhoi’ status for Rs 60,000 crore, a venture that had earlier focused heavily on direct Russian involvement.Alternately, shortlisting the Typhoon would only mean adding to the IAFs massive continuing logistic challenges, whilst the US’s F-18 and the F-16 – a precursor to the F-21,-had both been rejected by the IAF on multiple capability counts during trials conducted 2010 onwards for the binned Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft contract floated in 2007. Saab’s Gripen-E, on the other hand, was a single-engine platform, and though the MRFA request for information had not specified any preference for single or dual power packs, the IAFs intrinsic preference for the latter remains unstated.Also read: Is There a Link Between Indian Navy’s Rafale-M Deal and the Paris Bastille Day Invite to Modi?Hence, by a process of elimination, the Rafale was more than favourably placed in the MRFA sweepstakes, due not only to its operational superiority over its competitors as acknowledged by the IAF – and now by the IN but also the host of multiple ancillary factors enumerated earlier. Besides, with 26 Rafale-M under purchase, that would make it an aggregate of 62 French fighters in service with the Indian military. Adding to these numbers, a cross-section of veterans said, made ‘eminent’ commercial, logistical and operational sense.Moreover, there was also the abandoned contractual template for the terminated Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft tender which, industry officials said, could easily be ‘tweaked’ to suit an analogous MRFA purchase by resolving earlier glitches that would significantly compress negotiations. These earlier anomalies had centred on insistence by the MoD that Dassault, which was eventually shortlisted, shoulder eventual quality control responsibility for the 108 Rafales licence-built by HAL. This unwarranted conditionality had allegedly emerged as the deal-breaker for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft deal led to the Ministry of Defence procuring just 36 Rafales in fly-away condition, according to the government’s account. Of course, what was left unexplained was why, on the eve of Modi’s visit to France in 2015 (when the 126 jet co-production deal was scrapped in favour of buying 36 outright), both Dassault and HAL had said they had ironed out their differences.Today, Indian diplomats, security officials and analysts say it is less ‘arduous’ conducting materiel commerce with Paris than with Washington, as the former is more flexible and pragmatic than the latter, especially with regard to transferring hi-tech military knowhow and passing on source-codes that manage fighter weapon and flight control systems. The US, for its part, remains constrained by rigid export regulations in this regard and hidebound by personal political and diplomatic considerations over platform deployments. France, on the other hand, is more ‘relaxed’ on all these counts, displaying a Gallic savoir faire that strategically suits India, even if its equipment ends up being relatively more expensive.
