Rafale Deal Controversy: Delay in Decision Making By UPA Government Led To Urgency in Purchase of 36 Jets, Centre Tells Supreme Court
The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that the delay in the decision making by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to finalise the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF) led to an urgent need to purchase Rafale fighter jets.
New Delhi, November 12: The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that the delay in the decision making by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to finalise the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF) led to an urgent need to purchase Rafale fighter jets. The centre stated this in a document which was later made public. In the document, the central government justified the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.
The government in the document claimed that due to the long period of inconclusive 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) process, adversaries inducted modern aircraft and upgraded their older versions and they also acquired better capability air-to-air missiles and inducted their indigenous fighters in large numbers. The Centre also claimed that the enemies inducted more than 400 fighters (equivalent to more than 20 Squadrons) including fourth and fifth generation fighter jets during the period from 2010 to 2015. Rafale Deal Controversy: 74 Indian Negotiating Team Meetings Took Place Before Inking The Deal, Centre Tell SC
In the document, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government stated that all these factors led to the urgency in the purchase of 36 Rafale jets in “fly-away” condition on terms which would be better than conveyed by Dassault Aviation in the process which was already underway. The government said that in the case for procurement of 36 Rafale aircrafts, all the requisite steps as per requirement of Defence Procurement Procedure 2013 was followed. Rafale Deal Controversy: Former French President Francois Hollande Claims Modi Government Imposes Decision To Select Reliance Defence Ltd As Offset Partner
The Narendra Modi government signed the Rafale deal in September 2016 to purchase 36 fighter jets in a fly-away condition as part of the upgrading process of the IAF equipment. The estimated cost of the deal is Rs 59,000 crore. Since then, the opposition is targeting the government by claiming that it purchase the jets at a higher cost than earlier negotiated by the UPA government.
(With inputs from PTI)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 12, 2018 10:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).