French connection to serve multiple goals

Finalisation of French fighter jet Rafale as the choice for Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) will give the Indian Air Force the much needed boost and plug the gap that will be left by the fast approaching retirement of Soviet-era MiG-21s.
The four-year tender process that began in August 2007 had six contenders — two from the US, one each from France, Russia, Sweden and a UK-Europe consortium. In April 2011, Dassault Rafale of France and Eurofighter Typhoon were shortlisted as the finalists and almost a year later the Frenchman walked away with the contract.
The $10-billion deal for 126 jets, which defence analysts point out may go up to $15 billion with ancillary contracts, will also take bilateral ties between India and France a few notches up. The deal came through at a time when the French industry is battling the fallout of the Eurozone crisis.
This is the second major Indo-French defence deal in the last six months after the $1.4-billion upgrade contract for IAF’s Mirage-2000 fleet. The contract will also boost India’s defence industry and science sectors with the mandatory clause that 50 per cent of the deal amount be invested in domestic partnerships.
The biggest beneficiary will be the PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which will manufacture 108 of the jets under a transfer-of-technology agreement; the rest will be supplied by Dassault in fly-away condition before 2015. The HAL team can also use the expertise thus gained from the process to enhance the quality of the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft and to develop technologies for future projects.
The MMRCA deal was on the verge of being scrapped a year back when offset proposals of contenders went missing from the IAF headquarters and later resurfaced on a South Delhi roadside. The defence ministry decided to go ahead with the shortlisting process after an internal probe concluded that the documents were part of an appendix and their disclosure would not put any of the contenders at advantage or disadvantage.
More than a defence purchase agreement, the MMRCA deal marks strategic shift in the defence policy. By refusing to heed the US pitch that bilateral ties will be hyphenated with business, India has sent out a clear message to the rest of the world that it doesn’t need a superpower to prop it up and that it will take unpopular decisions to protect its national interests.
By choosing the French fighter, India has told Uncle Sam that the American policy of sanctions and supply disruptions based on its whims and fancies — like it did after the 1998 nuclear tests — will put it at a disadvantage with the French and the Russians, who honour agreements regardless of calm or storm.
India’s decision to diversify its shopping destinations will also ensure that it will no longer be dependent on a single vender or power block for crucial defence supplies. It is also a message to Russia that it can no longer take India’s evergreen friendship for granted, nor allow disruptions in supply chain or maintenance contracts with other international suppliers vying for the massive Indian market.
The transparent and focused MMRCA deal has shown that with the right approach multiple targets can be achieved. With more potent additions to its arsenal, India has asserted that it is not going to bury its head in the sand in a troubled neighbourhood.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on February 1, 2012)