France, India pledge swift conclusion to fighter jet deal
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NEW DELHI: France's defence minister and his Indian counterpart pledged Wednesday to quickly wrap up negotiations over the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets, agreeing to set up teams to nail down the deal.
The meeting between Jean-Yves Le Drian and Manohar Parrikar came some four weeks after the announcement of an outline purchase agreement which fell a long way short of previous proposals for India to buy 126 of the jets made by French firm Dassault.
“The two defence ministers discussed modalities in order to reach an early conclusion of an Inter-Governmental Agreement on the subject,” according to a joint statement issued after the talks in New Delhi.
“The two sides decided to set up teams to work out the details in a time-bound manner."
During a visit to France last month, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that New Delhi had ordered 36 of the “ready to fly” planes.
The deal — estimated to be worth five billion euros ($5.5 billion) — followed tortuous years-long negotiations on buying the jets.
Talks began in 2012 about the possible purchase of 126 of the planes as part of a $12-billion deal. But they became bogged down over cost and New Delhi's insistence that 108 of the planes be manufactured in India.
After news of the deal for 36 planes was announced, Parrikar played down expectations of a larger deal. India has in recent years launched a vast defence modernisation programme worth some $100 billion, partly to keep up with rival neighbours Pakistan and China.
But contracts for new military hardware have been bogged down in India's bureaucracy, while some were mired in corruption scandals under the previous Congress-led government.
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On DawnNews
Comments (41) Closed
May 06, 2015 03:21pm
where are "Make in India" slogans of Modi? Where are Tejas? Modi,s only focus is defense and defense nothing for common man.
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May 06, 2015 03:32pm
What benefit it would do when Indian pilots refuse to fly training planes - their flying coffins
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May 06, 2015 03:37pm
Poor IAF has been day dreaming a large fleet of MRCA for over two decades, just to wake up to two squadrons of 18 fighter jets each.
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May 06, 2015 03:42pm
Why do Indian pilots call their planes " flying coffins " ?
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May 06, 2015 03:49pm
Sometimes I think only this type of news will get Pakistani leaders to get their act together. Yes, the country that has fought us in wars is upgrading its military. This costs a lot of money, and money comes from economic development, not aid or loans. Hurry up and get CPEC online, construct dams, and move ahead. And please leave the addiction to aid, as no one gives anything to Pakistan without taking at least as much in some other way.
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May 06, 2015 03:52pm
@Awais Ali - you do know that we are not even their main threat. China is their main threat and competition. We are not comparable anymore. India is succeeding in everything really fast....
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May 06, 2015 03:53pm
@Faisal Bajwa
rest of the jet will be manufactured in india is old deal signed with new condition
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May 06, 2015 04:24pm
These jets will make IAF leaps ahead of their rivals.
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May 06, 2015 04:24pm
According to Dr. Subramaniyam Swamy these 36 French Rafael jets are outdated ones, kept in the warehouse to be sold, would sue the BJP government.
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May 06, 2015 04:39pm
@Awais Ali
Surely, it is sad to see Indian common man is deprived everything while their Pakistani counter part is provided with everything, including polio. Very bad India.
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May 06, 2015 05:03pm
@lucky india At the pace HAL works they wont be operational for another 10-15 years.
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May 06, 2015 05:07pm
Wow, 36 French used French planes, will Surely change regional military balance. Perhaps Pakistan can sell its used Mirages to India,which are being phased out. Free training included.
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May 06, 2015 05:16pm
Obviously none of the 'made in India' works.
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May 06, 2015 05:17pm
A cheaper way would be to hold UN kashmir plebiscite and let peace prevail. No threat of Indo/Pak war. Better for the poor masses, specially in India.
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May 06, 2015 05:24pm
@Whistle
agree..indeed ;)
very bad India
Inbetween, the worst argument to buy a piece of killing machine is to keep up with an enemy, and behold, there is not going to anyother war, or anyother human on this subcontinent, if this game of hatred and destruction goes on.
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May 06, 2015 05:29pm
@AWAIS ALI Tejas (LCA) never was thought to be the lead fighter aircraft by IAF,it is the capability building exercise and they are doing.
SKU 30 and SKU 30 MKI
MIG 29
Miraj 200 upgraded
And Rafale
are for that.
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May 06, 2015 06:29pm
The JF-16 Thunder has been proven to be better then the french made, remember, in a Pak/India conflict, what matters is the precision of guided missiles, range and others factors don't play much part as Pak and India are neighbours (too close), lets hope it never gets to that point.
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May 06, 2015 06:40pm
@Awais Ali we do give food security to all people in our country under food security bill. There is employment guarantee under MNREGA. Tell me what are options for people of Thar Pakistan when they can't buy food . In our country they will have to go to near by Ration shop without any money.
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May 06, 2015 06:42pm
latest update dassault announced 25% discount on deal.
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May 06, 2015 06:49pm
@Zak: Good to know there are absolutely 'no poor' in South Asia apart from Bharat(India)!
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May 06, 2015 07:19pm
@Awais Ali - Good point. However, you are forgetting one thing. India, as a rule, does not buy military hardware without technology transfer. Which means Indians will get the know how of making these machines in India. Also, Dawn published a report 6-odd months back about $8 Billion approval for next 5 years by India in defense manufacturing. So such purchases are not in conflict with "Make in India" - but in fact supports it.
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May 06, 2015 07:28pm
@Faisal Bajwa and the indians will probably dream another 30 years the way they did with LCA tejas!
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May 06, 2015 07:44pm
@bharat932 What you're describing is socialism/communism. USSR and Cuba tried it it ended up bleeding the country dry. Poor are poor because they're not productive. They can choose to move to a better location to improve odds of working.
R.B. Shenoy was the economist who worke with F.A. Hayek and told Nehru that these 5 year plans were going to fail and cause problems. That's the reason eventually Indian markets were opened up leading to increase in wealth. The poor will eventually get better as others become wealthier. USA took that route and the standard of living of everyone eventually started to rise.
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May 06, 2015 08:12pm
---in the footsteps of Rahul Gandhi.
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May 06, 2015 08:18pm
This jet is game changer.
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May 06, 2015 08:34pm
let them buy this crappy plane, that no one else wanted to buy it. The have been trying to sell it for years but no one wanted it. It's expensive, and no match for its contemporaries either thats the funny thing. In France, the indians have found someone like themselves who believe they are some kind of super power, only the rest of the world looks and laughs...
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May 06, 2015 08:42pm
@Varntvar
if india never buys without technology transfer, why is india the largest importer of arms today? how come they can't make their own anything?
Read the history of Arjun 'tank', LCA and all the other rubbish DRDO has wasted billions on.
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May 06, 2015 08:44pm
@Faisal
I think you will find this plane is no match for the modern fighter jets that China is producing now.
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May 06, 2015 08:46pm
@Faisal Bajwa,
Don't worry, it took us 20 years to develop indigenous cryogenic techonology, but we got there. Tejas is 20 years behind schedule but it also means there is 20 years of learning that we have already covered.
It will get there, the thing that matters is that there is already years of research behind it.
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May 06, 2015 09:08pm
While super advanced JF 17 Thunder cannot destroy a single american drone. LOL
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May 06, 2015 09:42pm
Pakistan has JF-17 fighters but why Pakistan bought second hand F-16s from Jordan last year ?
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May 06, 2015 09:45pm
India does not need weapons.
It needs to concentrate on the half billion poor people it has. Some do not have clean running water or food.
The priority is wrong.
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May 06, 2015 10:42pm
@NORI j 17 is an all weather medium MRCA, but F16 is high performance MRCA which can carry the 'ultimate' weapon. To cover hit capacity in all corners, there was a minimum number required, hence the purchase.
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May 06, 2015 11:17pm
Well my 2 cents for Pakistanis. No matter what you say, your army/airforce/navy would think 10 times before launching any misadventure. Pakistan has no strength to face Indian army might and last 4 wars+ Bangladesh is a proof of that. All your tactics from direct war to proxy war etc. have failed. Now you may keep trying it and keep sinking or you get to your senses sooner and behave like a responsible country.
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May 06, 2015 11:32pm
Good move by the GoI it is very important deal....India seeks these fighter plane to counter China not Pakistan...
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May 06, 2015 11:33pm
@Awais Ali ....This is not Modi's deal....It was a long awaited deal since a decade ago..
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May 06, 2015 11:55pm
@lucky india Uh no they wont
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May 07, 2015 12:08am
@Kashmiri34 But why should Indian be the world's largest weapons buyer when over 1/2 billion people live in poverty with no toilets? So sad. Would it not be easier to end hostilities and just let people in Kashmir vote for their future according to UN resolutions?
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May 07, 2015 12:27am
I want to understand a few things here. First Indians say that they are in the same league with Chinese (which the whole world laughs at) and are superior to Pakistan. Then India buy these fighter to balance the ratio of squadrons with Pakistan and China. Why is India worried about Pakistan even when it has got Sukhoi 30MKI, Mirages, MIG-29, and now Rafaele jets. Recently Pakistan received some defense equipment from the US and again India is unhappy about that, why? Aren't you guys the world 4th largest military machine? What would 14 jets do to throw this whole power structure off balance? I mean cheer up guys. Every country has its own foreign policy dynamics. India is a giant when it comes to it size and economy. It has better research than Pakistan. Why can't India come up with a decent fighter jets of its own? If Pakistan with its limited resources can rig up JF-17, why not India? I mean Tejas!!! Really!!! Do better India....
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May 07, 2015 12:28am
@Kashmiri34 - Why you need to "counter" us? Try to be friendly!
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May 07, 2015 06:56am
By the time this deal is finalised it will be down to 18 fighters. Remember it started from 124, then went down to 36. Compare this with Qatar, they negotiated and signed a deal for 24 fighters with France, quicker than the Indians could say Rafale.
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