The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing one of its gravest political challenges, just a few months ahead of general elections, scheduled for April. A deal to procure 36 Rafale combat jets from the French aviation company Dassault has become a raging controversy.
A clutch of petitioners approached the Supreme Court seeking its intervention in the matter. The petitioners include lawyer Prashant Bhushan, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha and former telecommunications minister Arun Shourie. They have demanded that the government come clean on the pricing of the deal and the reasons for bypassing laid-down procedure for a deal that is in the region of US$9 billion.
At a day-long hearing of the case in the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi surprised everyone by seeking the views of the Indian Air Force on the finer aspects of the deal.
The IAF has been desperate to induct new multirole combat jets for nearly a decade to replace its aging Soviet-era MiGs. After a protracted series of tests, the French Rafale emerged as the winner, beating the Swedish Gripen, the Russian MiG-35 and the the American F-16 and F-18 combat jets. The original plan was to procure a 126 jets.
However, after assuming power in the 2014 general elections, the Modi government scrapped the 126-aircraft deal. On a trip to France in April 2016, Modi surprised everyone by announcing a fresh deal for only 36 combat jets. As it turns out, the announcement suffered from several key procedural lapses. This led to furious protests from the opposition parties, and the petitions in the Supreme Court.
However, what serving IAF officers submitted in the apex court has given rise to fresh controversy.
When Gogoi asked when the last induction of advanced fighter jets was, Air Vice-Marshal T Chalapati said these were in the 1980s in the shape of Mirage aircraft. Gogoi said: “That means from 1980s till date there have been zero additions.”
This is sheer hogwash.
The IAF has inducted Su-30MKIs from the mid-1990s onward and has more than 270 of these fighters. The more recent deliveries have electronics comparable to the current state of the art. The aircraft may be classified as 3.5 generation, but that is because it was designed in that time period. To impute that the same plane made in 2010 is limited to that period’s capability is also rubbish.
For that matter, the Rafale prototype was up and flying in the late 1980s. I witnessed the Rafale in Farnborough, England, in 1988. The Su-27 – the forerunner of the Su-30 and Su-35 – made its debut in Paris in 1987, where, incidentally, it crashed during a flying display.
Chalapati also suggested that the “existing fighters do not have stealth capability.” This is also misleading. Radar signatures have been progressively getting smaller and only the American F-117 is truly stealthy – but because of its design it can do less and its cost is exorbitant. The Su-30s have stealth built into them with composite materials and radar-absorbing paint. But its size makes it a difficult plane to hide. But the upgraded MiG-29s too have more stealth built into them.
Finally, for the government to insist that revealing the overall unit price would expose the true capability of the new Rafale combat jets is a complete concoction and figment of imagination. It is just a lie. What the price will reveal (since the India specifications haven’t changed since 2013) is whether the Modi government inflated the cost, for reasons that are very easy to guess.
This interaction took place in the presence of the vice-chief of the air force, Air Marshal Anil Khosla, the deputy chief of the IAF, Air Marshal V R Choudhari, and Additional Defense Secretary Apurva Chandra.
This raises the question – why are serving air force officials not revealing how the Su-30s were inducted in the same period that they now claim did not see any combat-aircraft acquisitions?
You did not mention a basic and important point in you column. The Rafale is MMCA category plane and the last MMCA plane inducted in IAF was Mirage. Sukhoi is an Air dominance fighter, altogether Different category of plane, one of the largest fighters. It is not a multirole plane. So before commenting on IAF officers, please get your facts right. This report is factually wrong.
Whom to believe when the "real" experts are blatantly lying to us ?
Whom to believe when the "real" experts are blatantly lying to us ?
Lol… Biased writing at its best.
Ok..so we should believe you and not the air force personnel
Lol… Biased writing at its best.
Ok..so we should believe you and not the air force personnel
people are mislead by these leftist. they are bigger threat for our country than Pakistan or their god father china.
The moment author questioned the creditblity of air force officers I knew he is anti Hindu anti Indian jack ass
The moment author questioned the creditblity of air force officers I knew he is anti Hindu anti Indian jack ass
Do you mean to say sukhoi was not inducted? Is it not misleading
Do you mean to say sukhoi was not inducted? Is it not misleading
By insisting on discussions on such details in public, Congress has already lost further goodwill. Non experts are discussing specific issues. Clerical minds are insisting on procedures. Any body, taking initiatives, is being branded as dictator. A majority of us became 9-5 employees in last 70 years. And a pain from change is being considered dictatorship. Sad.
By insisting on discussions on such details in public, Congress has already lost further goodwill. Non experts are discussing specific issues. Clerical minds are insisting on procedures. Any body, taking initiatives, is being branded as dictator. A majority of us became 9-5 employees in last 70 years. And a pain from change is being considered dictatorship. Sad.
Suddenly Mohan and Seema have become strategic experts, its traitors like these who pander to the enemies of India and hand over India to them on a silver platter, just like the likes of them did for the British. You do not know the real story so shut the f**k up.
Suddenly Mohan and Seema have become strategic experts, its traitors like these who pander to the enemies of India and hand over India to them on a silver platter, just like the likes of them did for the British. You do not know the real story so shut the f**k up.
We have become a country of jokers.
We have become a country of jokers.
TRUE
TRUE
Whom to believe? Real Air force experts or arm chair experts. India’s defence strategy and preparedness will be decided in magazine articles. This arm chair people are harming our national interest. If modi wanted to benefit himself or somebody else ( as guruswami has easily guessed), he would have purchased 126 fighters instead of 36 to get more benefit. Our enemies must be laughing at us.
Whom to believe? Real Air force experts or arm chair experts. India’s defence strategy and preparedness will be decided in magazine articles. This arm chair people are harming our national interest. If modi wanted to benefit himself or somebody else ( as guruswami has easily guessed), he would have purchased 126 fighters instead of 36 to get more benefit. Our enemies must be laughing at us.