Comments
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival in Paris on Thursday, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), under the chairmanship of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, granted two ‘acceptance of necessity’ (AoN) for the procurement of 26 Rafale-Marine aircraft and three Scorpene submarines for the Indian Navy from France at a cost of about Rs 90,000 crore.
The DAC nod for the acquisition of aircraft and construction of submarines by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) was mandatory to complete the initial procurement process before Modi, who will be guest of honour at the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris on Friday, signs memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the Macron government for the mega defence deals.
“The DAC granted Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for procurement of 26 Rafale-Marine aircraft along with associated ancillary equipment, weapons, simulator, spares, documentation, crew training and logistic support for the Indian Navy from the French Government based on Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA),” the Ministry of Defence officially announced on Thursday.
The price and other terms of purchase of Rafale-M, which will fulfil the Navy’s requirement of 26 deck-based fighter jets to arm the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, “will be negotiated with the French Government after taking into account all relevant aspects, including comparative procurement price of similar aircraft by other countries”, the ministry emphasised. The Indian government is also negotiating for “integration of Indian designed equipment” on the aerial platform to give exposure to domestic industry. Also, the establishment of a ‘maintenance, repair and operations’ (MRO) hub for various systems will be incorporated into the contract documents after due negotiations, the MoD stated. Given that 36 Rafale are already part of the Indian Air Force fleet, the maintenance and repair of the naval version of the Dasault-made aircraft would not be an issue, sources say.
Also read
Earlier, the Defence Procurement Board had cleared both deals to allow the DAC to give its nod. The Navy, after extensive trials last year, had opted for Dassault Aviation’s Rafale-M against Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet.
Three additional Scorpene submarines, under the buy (Indian) category, will be constructed by MDL. Under Project 75, six Scorpene submarines have already been built by MDL in India. “The procurement of additional submarines, with higher indigenous content, will not only help in maintaining required force level and operational readiness of the Indian Navy, but also create significant employment opportunities in the domestic sector,” observed the MoD. The move will also help MDL in enhancing its expertise in submarine construction.
The DAC also approved a proposal for formulating guidelines towards achieving the desired indigenous content in all categories of capital acquisition. It will help in achieving ‘aatmanirbharta’ in critical manufacturing technologies and life-cycle sustenance of defence platforms/equipment through indigenous manufacturing, the ministry stated.
This is the second big-ticket deal the Indian government would be signing after Modi inked the GE-414 aircraft engine co-development agreement worth nearly $1 billion and purchase of MQ-9B drones during his recent US trip to power the Tejas MK2 aircraft that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is manufacturing.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.