Rafale fighter jet deal contract with France almost ready: Indian Defence ministry

The much-awaited multi-billion Rafale combat aircraft deal with France has moved a step further with the defence ministry finalizing a 'draft contract', according to top defence ministry officials.

 

Rafale was declared the lowest bidder in Janaury 2012 but the deal has not been inked so far on account of escalation in the cost. The Cost Negotiation Committee, which was set up in February 2012 to work out the modalities for the deal has not reached a conclusion after 30 months of negotiations.

 

The government raised its concerns over this last month, during the visit of French foreign minister Laurent Fabius to New Delhi.

 

"Yes, we are in the process of finalizing the draft contract for the deal. And we also expect the Cost Negotiation Committee to submit its report soon," said a senior defence ministry official, who was privy to the developments.

 

But the official refused to give a time frame for inking the deal. "It is very difficult to predict any date for signing the contract. But, it should happen in the next few months," the officer said, requesting anonymity.

 

The Indian Air Force (IAF), which is coping with a depleted combat strength, claims that even if the deal is signed by the end of the year the first lot of Rafale aircraft would arrive only by 2017, by which time the IAF would have to phase out its MiG-21 squadrons.

 

The likelihood of an early signing is encouraging. Besides, the ruling NDA government has promised to address all the needs of the armed forces to ensure defence preparedness.

 

According to officials privy to the development, the defence ministry has asked representatives of M/s Dassault Aviation – the French manufacturer of Rafale aircraft – to revise the price structure which has gone beyond expected estimates.

 

Officials claim that when the tender was floated in 2007 the cost of the programme was $12 billion (Rs42,000 crore).When the lowest bidder was declared in January 2012, the cost of the deal shot up to $18 billion (Rs90,000 crore). Now with the inclusion of transfer of technology, the life cycle cost and creation of an assembly line, the deal has climbed to a whopping $20 billion.

 

The air force is seeking to replace its aging MiG-21s with a modern fighter and the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) fits between India's high-end Sukhoi-30MKIs and the low-end Tejas LCA lightweight fighter. The IAF has a sanctioned strength of 45 fighter jet squadrons. However, only 30 squadrons are operational as old aircraft have been retired.

 

Eighteen of the 126 new aircraft are to be purchased directly from Dassault and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited will manufacture 108 under a licence, at a new facility in Bangalore.

 

Defence minister Arun Jaitley informed parliament last week that "given the complexity of the procurement case, the process of negotiations with Dassault Aviation on various aspects of the commercial proposal and provisions of draft contract is on."

 

Dassault Aviation emerged as L-1 bidder for procurement of the MMRCA based on its quotation.

Russia Ready to Help Rearm Finnish Army – Defense Minister

Russia is ready to expand military contacts with Finland and to help the country modernize its armed forces, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday.

Shoigu is on a two-day visit to Finland hosted by his Finnish counterpart Carl Haglund.

“This is the first contact at the defense ministerial level. I hope we will expand contacts at the level of chiefs of staff and commanders of military districts,” Shoigu said at a joint news conference with Haglund in Helsinki.

Shoigu said Russia could provide assistance to Finland in the modernization of its army.

“Our military experts will hold a series of meetings on this issue in the near future,” he said.

The Finnish military needs modernizing, and will buy new equipment for its air force in the next 10 years, Haglund said.

During the Soviet era, Finland bought much of its military equipment from the USSR, including MiG-21 fighters, Mi-8 helicopters and air-to-air missiles. After the break-up of the Soviet Union it switched to western suppliers.

Finland is the only non-NATO EU country bordering Russia. The Finnish Defense Forces, like their Russian counterparts, are partly manned by conscripts.

A Melancholy Milestone For MiG

Last month the Indian Air Force celebrated the 50th anniversary of receiving its first MiG-21 jet fighter. While the celebration was upbeat, masking the fact that India is rapidly getting rid of its MiG-21s, and not just because they are old. On the bright side, obtaining manufacturing rights to the MiG-21 enabled India to build a domestic aircraft manufacturing industry that now produces military and commercial aircraft. The same thing happened in China, which began manufacturing the MiG-21 at about the same time. That’s the good news.

 

The bad news is that India has lost so many MiG-21 fighters to accidents that it is trying to retire this type of aircraft as quickly as possible. Over the last half century, India has bought 976 MiG-21s and over half are gone, mostly because of accidents. While India was something of an extreme case in this area (other users don't fly their MiG-21s as much), it's been typical of MiG aircraft. All this is part of the decline of the once feared, and admired, MiG reputation. 

 

Starting in World War II (the MiG-1 entered service in 1940), through the Korean War (the MiG-15 jet fighter), and the Cold War (the MiG-17/19/21/23/27/29), MiGs comprised the bulk of the jet fighters in communist, and Indian, air forces. But after the Cold War ended in 1991, the flaws of the MiG aircraft (poor quality control and reliability, difficult to fly) caught up with users, in a big way. In the last few years most of the bad news about military aircraft reliability, accidents, and crashes has involved MiG products. For example, all Indian MiG-27s have been grounded several times in the last few years because of suspected mechanical problems. These fears are not new. The MiG-27 and Cold War era Russian warplanes in general do not age well.

 

In 1963 India had good reason to believe that, with the MiG-21 Russia had learned from experience and created a superb jet fighter. That was not the case, but like many users of MiG jet fighters India stuck with the brand. They were not the only ones. The most extreme example of this was Albania that, in 2005, retired the last MiG-15 fighters still in service. 

 

A late 1940s design, partly based on work Germany had done during World War II (and using captured German engineers and plans, as well as British technology and Russian aircraft design ideas), the MiG-15 looked good on paper. The six ton MiG-15 was fast, rugged and resistant to damage. But the flight controls made it difficult to maneuver as effectively as "inferior" (on paper) American aircraft. MiG-15s were usually the losers in aerial battles with aircraft like the American F-86 or F-80. Recognizing those flaws, there followed the six ton MiG-17, which corrected most of the MiG-15s faults, and added a new one; difficulty maneuvering at low altitudes. In the mid-1950s, the nine ton MiG-19 showed up, further refining the original MiG-15 idea. The MiG-19 was supersonic, but as pilots discovered, it was maneuverability, not speed, that brought victory. The MiG-19; was quickly followed in the late 1950s by the 8.5 ton MiG-21, which is still serving in dozens of air forces. Most modern jet fighters weigh in at twenty tons or more, and dwarf the MiG-21 in other ways as well. India was the last major user of MiG-21s to admit that they were using flawed and inferior aircraft, and have rapidly been replacing them with non-Russian aircraft or non-MiG aircraft (like the Su-30) from Russia.

Iran upgrades its MiG 29 fighter jets with modern electronics

FARS news agency reported on an effort by Iran to overhaul and upgrades it’s tactical MiG29 fighter jets.

Which the article says is necessary to maintain combat readiness in the face of a probable "pre-emptive U.S. military strike" against both civilians and military targets.

The MiG-29 (Russian: МиГ-29), NATO reporting name: "Fulcrum" is a fourth-generation advanced jet fighter aircraft designed for an air combat superiority role.

Syria grounds fighter-bomber fleet for fear of more defections

Bashar Assad Thursday night, June 21, ordered his entire Air Force fleet of fighter bombers grounded, for fear that more pilots might defect after Col. Hasan Merhi al-Hamadeh flew to Jordan aboard a MiG-21.

Officials in Damascus noted that the same day was chosen by Washington to confirm that CIA officers were present in southern Turkey to help the Free Syrian Army rebels fight the Syrian government.

Syrian officials are convinced that the defection of the pilot with his plane was organized by the Americans and that more are in the pipeline in an attempt to show the Syrian people and Arab world that even the Syrian air force, the part of the armed forces most loyal to Assad, was in fact slipping out of his hands.