New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government fully backs the Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) plans to acquire 114 Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA), and is aware of the fighter squadron’s depleting strength, government sources said.
They said work was ongoing in the MRFA project and multiple rounds of discussions have taken place “to finalise the contours of the path to be taken”.
Sources further said there were two main issues the government, civil servants and IAF officers were trying to find a solution to. “We are trying to find a solution to breaking the logjam,” a source said.
The IAF is down to a mere 31 fighter squadrons on paper against a sanctioned strength of 42. This number will go down further next year when two remaining squadrons of the MiG 21 Bison, already operating as one, get phased out.
Explaining the logjam, a source said, “Last time, the government came out with a solution to the MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) tender, stuck for years, by going in for a government-to-government contract for 36 Rafale. But a political slugfest erupted.”
“Officers presented themselves in the Supreme Court and documents concerning vital national interest had to be shared. It became a political hot potato,” a government source said.
The sources said the controversy was the real reason why officers and officials, along with the government, were playing safe.
The two issues facing Centre
“The issue is what route (is) to be taken? Do we go for a repeat of G2G for more Rafale? If yes, under what rule and how many? Or do we have an open tender, which means full-fledged trials have to take place, but this is going to be a long-drawn process,” said a source.
Asked about an IAF proposal a few years ago to have limited trials since most aircraft had already taken part in MMRCA sorties and the IAF knew capabilities and shortfalls, the sources said the aircraft had undergone multiple upgrades and hence this route could not be taken.
Sources said the second issue was about how much indigenous content the MRFA should have and how much would be manufactured in India.
“If we give an order to Dassault for more Rafale today, they will only be able to deliver much later since their production capacity is down and they have pending orders. So the aircraft has to be built in India like in the case of the C-295,” the sources said.
They added another issue linked to this problem was that the French company last time chose its own Indian partner. The question now is whether the IAF or the Indian government should decide who they partner with.
Interestingly, French firm Dassault Aviation has got a clearance from the government to set up a fully self-owned maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility near Jewar international airport in Uttar Pradesh to cater to not just India’s fleet of Mirage 2000s and Rafale fighter jets, but also that of Indonesia.
This means Dassault has decided to move away from its Indian partner Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence for this project. With Reliance, it has a joint venture called Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DRAL) which operates a plant in Nagpur to make parts for the Falcon business jets and Rafales.
‘Two production lines for Tejas a disaster’
Meanwhile, government sources have dismissed the idea put forward by former service chief Air Chief Marshal V. R. Chaudhari and current Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh to have a separate private assembly line for the Tejas aircraft.
IAF has already ordered 83 Tejas Mk1A and is in the process of ordering 97 more. Besides this, the IAF also plans to have about six squadrons of Tejas Mk2.
Speaking on the IAF proposal, sources said they understood the thought process of the service chiefs who are troubled by the late delivery of Tejas. They explained that it has been hit due to non-supply of engines by GE for three years, and a delay in the integration of a particular missile and radar by two foreign countries.
“It is not just the service chiefs who have said so, but others too. We have studied how it happens in other countries. No aircraft is manufactured by two different companies. It will be a disaster if we go for two separate companies for Tejas. The logistics cost will be very high and it will become very complicated,” a source said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)