IAF's 126 jets tender could get nod Friday
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http://www.indiaprwire.com/businessnews/20070628/23165.htm
Posted at: http://www.air-attack/com/news/news_article/2553
A long-delayed Indian Air Force (IAF) global tender for 126 combat jets is likely to get the defence ministry's nod Friday and could be issued within a week, an official said.
The ministry's Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the final word on the subject, is meeting here Friday afternoon and the only item on the agenda is believed to be the IAF's request for proposals to six manufacturers for a medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA).
The IAF desperately needs these aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of Soviet-era MiG-21 fighters that make up 21 squadrons of its 30-squdaron fleet of combat aircraft.
Headed by Defence Minister A.K. Antony, the DAC also includes Ministers of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh and M.M. Pallam Raju.
Its other members are the defence secretary, the finance secretary, the defence finance secretary, the director general (acquisitions) and the three service chiefs. The IAF vice chief is a special invitee as it was his office that laid down the parameters of the IAF's requirements.
Once the RFP is approved, it is likely to be issued in the first week of July, a defence ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Thereafter, it would take six months for the responses to be received. The technical and financial negotiations that will follow will take about two-and-a-half years before the contract with the chosen vendor is signed, the official added.
It would then take another two-and-a-half years before the first aircraft start arriving.
'Assuming that everything goes like clockwork, it would be at least five-and-half to six years before the first aircraft arrives,' the official explained.
Six aircraft are currently in the running: the US <a href="/page/45/F-16-Falcon.html">F-16</a> and <a href="/page/69/FA-18-Super-Hornet.html">F-18 Super Hornet</a>, the Swedish <a href="/page/49/JAS-39-Gripen.html">Gripen</a>, the French <a href="/page/76/Dassault-Rafale.html">Rafale</a>, the Russian MiG-35 and an European consortium's <a href="/page/43/Eurofighter-Typhoon.html">Eurofighter</a> are currently in the running.
A request for information (RFI) was sent out in 2001 and it has taken six years for this to graduate to the next step.
During this period, the IAF has witnessed an alarming dip in its fighter squadron levels from a sanctioned strength of 391/2 to 30. This will further reduce by the time the first of the new jets start arriving, which means that the IAF would actually require some 200 aircraft - some 70 more than it currently hopes to purchase.
'The purchase of the additional aircraft would not pose a problem as this would be treated as a follow-up to the order placed on the chosen vendor and thus, would not have to go through the RFI/RFP process,' the officer explained.
This apart, the IAF is also likely to induct the indigenously developed Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) in 2012, around the time the first of the new jets arrive.
This would help it achieve its projected strength of 45 fighter squadrons.
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