The Centre had “gravely compromised national security” by deciding to purchase only 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France, as against the 126 jets that the Indian Air Force had asked for, said AK Antony, senior Congress leader and defence minister in the previous Manmohan Singh government.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters on Tuesday, Antony said the incumbent ministers for defence, law and finance had claimed that the 36 Rafale fighters jets bought at a much cheaper price than the one negotiated by the previous UPA government.

“If that is true, why have they not bought the entire fleet of 126 aircraft, which is the requirement raised by the IAF? Why have they bought only 36, for the stated reason that it is the urgent requirement of the IAF...but the aircraft will be delivered only by 2022? So, the IAF needed 126 aircraft in 2000, but the government will deliver 36 aircraft only by 2022 through a procedure that entails no technology transfer, no inclusion of offsets, and no capacity-building for ‘Make in India’ since Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), the only company that has the capacity to undertake a venture of this scale, is being kept out. Does this sound even remotely logical?” asked Antony.

Antony said there had been a complete violation of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) rules and a by-passing of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) which comprises the three service chiefs, besides the Secretary (Defence Production), Secretary (Defence) and the DRDO chief.

“The IAF has an authorised strength of 42 squadrons. It has now come down to 31. In 2000, the Air Force told the then NDA government that they required at least 126 fighter aircraft for defence preparedness... In the present context, the IAF actually needs more than 126 aircraft because this requirement was raised in 2000; now it is 2019 (sic)...But instead of catering to the requirements, the Modi government seriously jeopardised India’s national security and air combat preparedness by unilaterally ordering only 36 Rafale aircraft,” said Antony.

The former defence minister, who held office between 2006 and 2014, gave a background of the purchase proposal for Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) that was floated on August 28, 2007. After trials, the Indian Air Force (IAF) had found the Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon to be technically eligible.

‘All inclusive deal’

Incidentally, said Antony, the Request for Proposal (RFP) in the tender floated by the UPA government had made it clear that the bids were to be inclusive of the cost of initial purchase, transfer of technology, licence production, etc. After the the technical short-listing, financial bids were invited on December 12, 2012. France-based Dessault Aviation emerged the lowest bidder.

Of the 126 jets contracted, 18 aircraft were to arrive in fly-away condition from France. The rest — 108 aircraft — would be manufactured in India by HAL under the technology-transfer agreement. Additionally, there was an offset clause that required Dassault to invest 50 per cent of the cost of the aircraft in India.

On March 13, 2014, a work-share agreement was signed between HAL and Dassault. The IAF also demanded that life-cycle costs should be included as part of the contract; this clause was absent previously. During the negotiations of the contract, there were disputes about the method to calculate the life-cycle cost, and some issues were unresolved with the HAL. Antony claimed that when the UPA demitted office, these negotiations were “almost final”.

“But then the NDA assumed office and instead of seriously trying to solve the pending issues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Paris and announced the unilateral purchase of 36 aircraft. I would like to know if the IAF wanted 36 aircraft and the DAC cleared the purchase. Who authorised the PM to reduce the number to 36 aircraft?” asked Antony.

Procedural violation

Antony also claimed that the original RFP was still alive when Modi announced the Rafale deal in April 2015. It was only cancelled in June 2015, and this, he said, was a flagrant violation of the Defence Procurement Procedure.

“When the PM announced the purchase of 36 aircraft in Paris in April, 2015, at that time the proposal requiring 126 aircraft cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council was still alive. When this was already alive, how was this unilateral decision to acquire 36 aircraft announced? As per the defence procurement procedure, the defence acquisition council alone can decide the number of aircraft and number of weapons to be acquired. Our PM’s decision is a clear violation of the DPP. After signing the purchase agreement for 36 aircraft, Modi government cancelled the RFP cleared by Defence Acquisition Council only in June, 2015, two months after the new proposal to buy 36 aircraft was announced. The Nation’s interests have been severely compromised,” said Antony.

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