But the per unit cost zooms to Rs 1,640 crore if the overall deal is taken into account, which includes a decidedly deadly weapons package, all spares and costs for 75% fleet availability and “performance-based logistics support” for five years.
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The long-awaited deal was inked in Delhi between defence minister Manohar Parrikar and his French counterpart Jean Yves Le Drian.
The first planes will be delivered in 2019 and the 36 jets will form two new squadrons of the Indian airforce, which is trying to renew its dwindling fleet of Russian MiG-21s – dubbed “Flying Coffins” due to their poor safety record. “Rafale is a potent weapon that will boost IAF’s capability”, Parrikar told reporters.
But the defence ministry’s efforts today after the deal was done were directed at making a convincing case on the hugely expensive purchase. The ceremony concluded India’s long search for a new multi-role combat aircraft and years of drawn-out negotiations.
Since 1994, India has bought 290 Sukoi Su-30MKI combat aircraft from Russia and plans to purchase roughly 100 Russian T-50 combat aircraft – in a deal likely to exceed the Rafale price tag – while spending billions of dollars to buy six Scorpene submarines from France, according to Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks global arms purchases.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to France past year had announced the decision to procure 36 Rafale jets from France in ready-to-fly condition. When the MMRCA project was announced in 2007 under the UPA regime, the cost of the total acquisition was estimated to be about 10 billion $.
The price of aircraft alone is about 91 million euros each for a single seater and about 94 million Euros for a two seater aircraft.
The Defence Ministry sources said that they have negotiated a deal which is cheaper than what was offered to the previous UPA government and the aircraft comes with better missile system and maintenance advantages. The directive was in the context of the security establishment perceiving China and Pakistan to be its two main adversaries. The fighter is in service with the French Armee de’l’air.
The aircraft will have superior weapons like superior Meteor Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles and Scalp air to ground cruise missiles, both the latest weapons in the world fulfilling the IAF’s requirement of a deep strike aircraft that can operate at extremely high altitudes. The Rafale aircraft would have advanced features like advanced electronically scanned array radar, mid-air refuelling and advanced electronic warfare equipment. “It will give the air force an arrowhead”.
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The delivery of the jets will begin in 36 months and will be completed in 66 months from the date the contract is inked. “We are open to manufacturing Rafales in India”, Trappier said when asked if the French firm was willing to manufacture the fighter aircraft in India if the plane was shortlisted for a bigger order.
