A Rafale fighter jet performs during the Aero India air show at Yelahanka air base in Bengaluru February 18, 2015. (Reuters)
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said that the decision to buy 126 fighter jets from France cleared by the previous Congress-led government, was not thought through properly. The purchase, he said, should not have been made through a global tender, but through a government to government deal.
"This is much a better deal," he said in an exclusive interview to NDTV, referring to India's new plan to buy 36 ready-to-fly Rafale jets from France's Dassault Aviation, announced last week by Prime Minster Narendra Modi.
The Defence Minister indicated that the cost per jet would now be cheaper. Buying "126 (fighters) would cost India about Rs 1 lakh crore. Can we spend so much money on a high-end fighter," Mr Parrikar asked, adding, "you don't agree to a 1 lakh crore deal" without working out how and from where the money will come."
About his predecessor, the Congress' AK Antony, the longest-serving Defence Minister the country has had, Mr Parrikar said, "There was hardly any supervision or control. A Defence Minister needs to monitor but that was hardly the case." He said the Modi government would now review acquisitions worth Rs 5,40,000 crore cleared by the previous government.
The BJP government, the minister said, will first acquire only equipment and weapon systems that are critical for the three forces. "We are in the process of weeding out the rest."
India, said the minister, fast-tracked the purchase of 36 Rafale fighters - two squadrons - as the Indian Air Force desperately needed additional jets to plug critical gaps. The original agreement of 2012 to buy 126 jets, only 18 of them in fly-away condition, was stalled for three years over cost and a dispute over the assembly of the other 108 aircraft in India.
"I think we need to address this problem" Mr Parrikar said and suggested filling the gaps with more indigenous LCA or Light Combat Aircraft manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. "Today we have only 40 LCAs, why can't we have 100 of these?" he said.
How many each of the Rafale and Tejas fighters will be deployed will depend on negotiations with the French government on any further purchase from Dassault, he said.
The government, Mr Parrikar said, wants a fighter jet manufacturer to set up a facility in India which "may not necessarily be Dassault."