The IAF on Wednesday said the Rafale fighters would give India “unprecedented” combat capabilities and “revolutionise” airpower in the Indian subcontinent, while dismissing as ill-informed the controversy surrounding the Rs 59,000 crore contract for acquiring 36 of the French jets.

“We are waiting for the Rafales to come. It is a beautiful aircraft. It is a very capable aircraft. It is a capability that we need very quickly,” said IAF vice-chief Air Marshal S B Deo, speaking on the sidelines of a seminar amidst the raging political slugfest between BJP and Congress over the deal inked by the NDA government in September 2016.

Asked about allegations against the deal, Air Marshal Deo said, “Actually, I shouldn’t comment but I can tell you that all these discussions are taking place as people don’t have information. They should read the DPP (defence procurement procedures) and offsets policy. I am not authorised to volunteer information, so we just lump it.”

The IAF, which is down to just 31 fighter squadrons (16-18 jets in each) when at least 42 are required to face the collusive threat from China and Pakistan, is gearing up to induct the 36 Rafales at its Hasimara and Ambala airbases in the 2019-2022 timeframe.

IAF deputy chief Air Marshal R Nambiar said the “core procurement focus” was for a multi-role combat fighter due to the depleting number of squadrons. “Our future inductions, as is well known, are being discussed for the wrong reasons. The Rafales will give us full spectrum capabilities to a large extent, revolutionising airpower in our subcontinent.”

Congress has alleged that the “non-transparent” Rafale deal was vastly overpriced, violated the DPP, had no transfer of technology and had completely ignored defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics to favour the Anil Ambanipromoted Reliance Defence as the main “offsets partner” of the French fighter manufacturer Dassault Aviation.

But the NDA government has strongly countered all this by stressing it had secured a “better deal” in terms of price, capability, equipment, delivery and maintenance than the one “notionally being negotiated” by the previous UPA regime for 126 Rafale jets under the now-scrapped MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project.

Air Marshal Deo also expressed unhappiness over HAL’s continuing delay in production and delivery of the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft, and suggested the private sector should also be involved in its production.

Expressing unhappiness over HAL’s delay in the Tejas project, Air Marshal SB Deo suggested that the private sector should be roped in

Courtesy: Times of India: 06 Sep 2018