Rafale deal unlikely during Hollande visit

 Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, January 15

India and France are not likely to ink the much-awaited deal for the Rafale fighter jets when French President Francois Hollande arrives in India on a three-day visit as chief guest at the Republic Day function. 

As some issues still remain, India will go for a better price than take a hasty step at this stage, top sources said, indicating the deal may not be inked during Hollande's visit.

In April last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a decision to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France in a "fly-away" condition. After that, the cost negotiation committee met to fix a price for the jets and also the arsenal. 

Initially, the IAF had projected the need for 126 such fighter jets and a global tender was floated, which is now in cold storage after the decision to buy Rafale was announced.

Already faced with a dwindling fleet of fighter jets, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has formally told the Ministry of Defence (MoD) that it needs at least 80 Rafale-type multi-role combat fighter jets to be battle ready in the next few years. These need not be the Rafale, but should be jets of similar capability.

The IAF has conveyed the need for five squadrons and estimated a squadron at 16 jets each, instead of the normal number of 18 jets, as the Rafale with its high-end technology is available to fly at short notice and has a shorter maintenance "turn-around".

This works out to be 80 jets of Rafale or planes of such type. The number is more in tune with creating minimum facilities for servicing and training of pilots and on-ground technicians. 

A "mere" 36 jets - presently on order -- would not meet the shortfall due to the phasing out of fleet of MiG-21 and MiG-27 jets by 2022. There are some 260 obsolete MiG-21s and MiG-27s (Soviet Union-era single-engine fighter jets) in the fleet. The IAF needs 400 jets over the next 10 years. 

As of now, the IAF has 35 fighter jet squadrons (having 16-18 planes each) against its projected requirement of 42 squadrons to tackle any simultaneous war with China and Pakistan.