Pricey deal: Cost of single Rafale aircraft pegged between Rs 722-900 cr
Each aircraft will thus cost between Rs 722 crore and Rs 900-plus crore, sans the weapons suit.
The two crucial points of the long-term maintenance contract and the weapons suites are two separate elements. They are thus two different cost stations. The maintenance contract, when concluded will have to be watched for its impact on the fate of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. For, Dassault may intend to award the contract to a private sector organisation of its choice.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in Parliament on Monday said: “As per the India-France Joint Statement issued by the two countries during the Prime Minister’s visit to France, Government of India conveyed to the Government of France that in view of the critical operational necessity for Multirole Combat Aircraft for Indian Air Force (IAF), Government of India would like to acquire (36) Rafale jets in fly-away condition as quickly as possible. The two leaders agreed to conclude an Inter-Governmental Agreement for <g data-gr-id="26">supply</g> of the aircraft on terms that would be better than conveyed by Dassault.”
Contract negotiation team that has been formed includes representatives from, IAF and the French Air Force. The Indian side is led by Air Marshal SBP Sinha, the deputy chief of air staff.
Negotiations for the <g data-gr-id="29">two-squadron</g> strength aircrafts are expected to continue for a little over one month more. The Rafales will be given to IAF in fly-away condition, which will help the service to shore up its dwindling number of combat aircrafts. By the end of the year, the IAF is supposed to come down to 28 <g data-gr-id="32">squadrons,</g> while the desired level is 45 squadron. Each squadron is supposed to consist of 18-20 fighters of different types.
The reason for the squadron strength decline is due to <g data-gr-id="24">retirement</g> of old MiG-21s and MiG-27s, and slow development of the LCA Tejas that were supposed to replace the missing number of MiGs.