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Two signatures as a final point in a long series. The defense ministers of the indian and French, Manohar Parrikar and Jean-Yves Le Drian, have affixed, Friday, September 23, New Delhi, for their initials on the agreement endorsing the purchase by India of 36 fighter aircraft, the Rafale built by Dassault Aviation.
According to a source close to the French delegation, the first unit should be delivered in 2019, and all the aircraft will be delivered in thirty months that follow. The amount of the contract has not been unveiled but, according to the same source, ” the figure announced € 8 billion, given in the indian press, is the order-of-magnitude “. This agreement also includes a section on “offsets” – technology transfer and counterparties manufacturing, the value of which represents 50 % of the contract.
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Until the end, the Indians have negotiated, foot to foot, the price of the Rafale. In march 2016, the indian minister of defence did not hide his intentions : “ I am hard bargaining. Let me save you the money of the nation ! “Before add : ” A good buyer does not point out its weaknesses. He pulls down his cards at the end. On behalf of the interest of the nation, do not ask me to reveal them ! “
The weaknesses of India are not so difficult to guess. The country had, in 2015, only 35 squadrons of 18 aircraft each, while it would need at least 41 to 45 to cope with a conflict with Pakistan and China. the ” We need 6 squadrons of aircraft-type Sequence, ‘ explained, in October 2015, the chief of staff of the indian air force.
” This is not the number of planes that matter but the military capacity “, insists Nitin Gokhale. According to this analyst specializing in issues of defence, the Rafale is able to perform 6 rotations per day, compared to 3 to 5 for the other devices in the fleet indian. It is also able to travel up to 1,050 kilometers per rotation, compared to 600 for the fighter aircraft, Russian Sukhoi-30. “The missile air-to-air latest-generation Meteor, the Rafale will be equipped, can reach inside Pakistan without the need to cross the border, ” says Mr. Gokhale. In addition to his technical capabilities, ” in the choice of the Rafale is a political choice, that of building a strategic partnership with France “, adds the analyst Chitrapu Uday Bhaskar.
A signature politically risky
Rest to pay the bill. And it is especially salty in this period of food shortage in the budget. In 2016, the ministry of defence has promised a revaluation of 30 % of retirement pensions paid to the military, which weighs heavy in his budget. Purchases of equipment and hardware, which are between 8 and 9 billion euros per year, does not represent more than one-quarter of the budget of the ministry of defence, against the third party in 2006.
The signature of the contract, by its magnitude, is also politically risky. The indian government is going to spend, for the combat aircraft, the equivalent of a year and a half of its budget devoted to health. In a country where tens of millions of patients fall below the poverty line and must get into debt for health care, where public hospitals are in disrepair, the contract for the Rafale has the potential to raise some criticism. However, these protests should have less weight today when there are voices demanding military retaliation against Pakistan after the attack on Sunday, a military base in kashmir that killed 18 indian soldiers. The announcement of the redemption of the Burst falls in this regard at an opportune time for the prime minister, Narendra Modi.
The acquisition of aircraft the French, assembled in France and not in India, as originally hoped for by the indian government, criticizes, however, one of the main thrusts of the economic policy of Mr. Modi, namely the program ” make in India “. During the air show in Bangalore in 2015, the head of the government declared that his country would emerge as a ” a world centre in the defence industry “. India, largest importer of arms in the world, is still far away. Only, in this folder of the Burst, the bureaucracy of india, deemed to be complex and unpredictable, has been can no longer ” make in India “. The slightest decision, especially for a contract of this magnitude, which has been validated, and revalidated. New Delhi fearing a new scandal of corruption, such as the one precipitated at the end of the 1980s the fall of prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who is suspected of having received bribes from the Swedish group armament Bofors.
In 2000, a report recommended to improve the procurement procedures within the indian ministry of defence. He denounced in particular the’ absence of a professional structure dedicated to the supply of “. A diagnosis is still valid today.
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