The No-nonsense Timeline of rafale deal

Sid Nir
Sid Nir
Sep 9, 2018 · 2 min read

In The previous 2 months, I have been hearing a lot about the Rafale deal.

The allegations, arguments, counter-arguments, endless debate. So I decided to research on my own about the entire matter. So I here present the entire Rafale deal with the timeline.

I will try to cover only specific details, so there is a possibility that many small details will be left out. I am only trying to give a broad idea about the deal.

Image for representation

Here is the timeline.

2007 — Indian air force sent a proposal to the Indian government for buying a Medium multi-role combat aircraft(MMRCA). The purpose was to enhance IAF fleet of fighter jets. Indian government accepts the proposal and start the process of bidding.

The Initial bidders were Lockheed Martin’s F-16s, Boeing’s F/A-18s, Eurofighter Typhoon, Russia’s MiG-35, Sweden’s Saab’s Gripen and Rafale.

2012 — After various tests of each company fighters, the bids are open. Rafale has presented the least pricing for the deal. Each aircraft will cost around 500 crores. But what kind of weapons system? it has not been disclosed.

So what is the deal?

  • The deal includes buying of 126 aircraft. In which 18 will be manufactured and bought from France, while 108 jets will be assembled in India with the partnership of HAL(Hindustan Aeronautics Limited).

2014 — Negotiation over price, weapons system, maintenance are still going on. The deal is not finalized yet.

2015 — Change of Government is in place. The New government is looking to finalize the deal as soon as possible.

2016 — Current prime minister Narendra Modi has taken a trip to France for final negotiations. The final deal has been announced.

  • India will buy 36 Rafale jet from France. The entire cost will be around 58000 crores. The delivery date is somewhere in 2019.

So What is the controversy behind this deal?

  • The first one is about pricing? why is the current government paying 1600 Crores for each aircraft? , while the previous government was paying only around 500 crores.
  • In the previous deal, HAL was included in the deal, but in the new deal. There is No HAL. While the current government is promoting the Make in India initiative.

So here you go. The entire rafale deal in 3 mins. IF I have left anything. Do kindly tell me in the comment section.

Sources

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