Dassault unaware of any decision to disqualify Rafale

New Delhi: Unconfirmed reports suggest that the French fighter aircraft, Rafale, may have been disqualified from the Indian Air Force's Medium-range Multi-role Combat Aircraft tender, an approximately $11 billion deal for the supply of 126 aircraft. Dassault officials attending the Latin America Aerospace and Defense show at Rio de Janeiro have, however, denied receiving any information from Indian authorities in this regard.

"We have not had any information from Indian officials,'' said a Dassault spokesman.

In New Delhi, a senior defense ministry official was quoted as saying that Dassault had been unable to give full technical bid requirements. No details were provided.

Reports quote defence ministry (MoD) ''sources'' as saying that the Rafale fighter had 'fallen short' on 'several counts' listed in the GSQRs (general staff qualitative requirements) drawn up by IAF.

"It did not pass muster in the technical evaluation of the bids submitted by the six contenders," a ''source'' was quoted as saying.

Dassault officials have stressed that there was no technical lacuna in their bid.

Should the Rafale be knocked out of the race for the MMRCA tender, there would now be five contestants left to bid for the contract –the American fighters F-16 (Fighting Falcon/Lockheed Martin), the F-18 (Super Hornet/Boeing), the Swedish representation Gripen JAS-39 (Saab), the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Russian MiG-35.

The Rafale is a high-priced fighter that has struggled to secure orders in various tenders around the world.

It may be mentioned that in the recent past Indian authorities seem to have made it a habit to announce the award of contracts only to backtrack in a jiffy. With India now having become one of the largest arms market in the world, all tenders are riven with ambiguities, rivalries, claims and counter-claims.

Sometime back a contract for the supply of helicopters to the Indian Army was awarded to Eurocopter only to be withdrawn on complaints filed by an American company, Bell Helicopter. This company itself subsequently withdrew from the tender on non-compliance issues, leaving the army without any helicopters or any immediate hopes of securing them.

Bell Helicopter, part of Textron, may itself be up for sale now as the company is unable to sustain business in the current business environment.    

As for the French, they have a reputation for coming up with classy but pricy products. The Indian Air Force maintains a fleet of some 50-odd Mirage 2000 fighters and has expressed its happiness at their performance time and again. Yet a deal to upgrade these fighters is hanging fire for well over two years now as Dassault's fancy prices have failed to impress Indian authorities.

Meanwhile, air force and defence ministry officials are gearing up to launch field trials of the contending aircraft in approximately three months time. Reports indicate that there would be summer and winter trials in locations spread across various geographical areas. Bases in Rajasthan, Ladakh and Bangalore will host competing aircraft.

Commercial considerations will be taken up only after trials and evaluations are over. The earliest a selected MMRCA fighter can expect to enter service is 2013-14.