“It is going on smoothly and I hope in the next financial year, we will be able to take a decision. The deal will be according to the defence procurement policy (DPP) and will follow the Request for proposal or tender, trials and technical evaluation procedures. And not just in the MMRCA, but in all other acquisitions also there is no question of political interference,” he said addressing media at the inaugural session of the eighth edition of the biennial Aero India show.
Of the 126, India will directly purchase 18 aircraft, of which 12 will be single-seater and six twin-seater.
These aircraft will be located at three main operating bases and would be distributed among six independent flying squadrons, two per main operating base, with each squadron comprising 12 single-seat aircraft, while the remaining to be stored as reserves.
The six competitors for the aircraft deal are American Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet IN, F-16IN Super Viper from the US Lockheed Martin, Gripen Next Generation (NG) from Sweden’s Saab, European consortium EADS’ Eurofighter Typhoon, French Rafale from Dassault Aviation and the Russian MiG-35.
The technical evaluation for all six aircraft has been completed last year, after which the report is in the ministry of defence (MoD) for review and a decision is awaited. These fighter aircraft will replace the aging MiGs.
On the winner and timing of the deal, the minister said, “I am not an astrologer, but the final decision will be on the basis of staff evaluation report and commercial negotiations and as per the DPP, the winner be chosen on merit will, and there will be no other consideration.”The tender for the deal was floated in 2007 and the six contenders entered into trials in 2008 which went on till 2010. This is the first deal which has a 50 percent offset obligation, which means that the winner of the deal will invest six billion dollars into the Indian defence industry.
Antony also spoke about including some more sectors into offsets, like transfer of technology, which is not part of the offsets as of now, a matter which is under study by a defence Committee and the decision will be taken by the DAC (Defence Acquisition Council). In the latest procurement policy, released last month, aerospace and internal security have been included in offsets obligations.
The minister reiterated that in the long run India ought to have self reliance as no country would part with its A grade technologies, for which DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and DPSUs (Defence Public Sector Units) need support to make a break-through finally, in order to strengthen the armed forces.