There is agreement in some quarters that technical considerations had dictated the shortlist for the MMRCA order, overriding other aspects such as the ones aimed at boosting Indo-US relations that have been steadily warming in the past decade and upgraded to the level of “strategic partnership”

After anot her spell of agonising wait in pursuit of India’s ‘mother of all’ defence deals, it were only the European skies which seem to be opening up to receive the $11 billion ( Rs. 49,500 crore) medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) ‘manna’ from the heavens. Yes, it is official. India has shortlisted two out of the six vendors competing for the 126-aircraft multi-role combat aircraft programme, and both are from Europe. The final race would now be between the French Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon, built by European four-nation consortium of EADS Cassidian representing Germany and Spain, Britain’s BAE Systems (BAES.L) and Italy’s Finmeccanica (SIFI.MI). The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has accordingly asked the two European companies to extend their commercial bids till December 31, which were to have expired by end April. Officials at the Ministry also confirmed that the other four vendors namely the US Boeing (F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet) and Lockheed Martin (F-16 IN Super Viper), Russian UAC Mikoyan (MiG-35) and the Swedish Saab (JAS-39 Gripen NG) have been asked to not extend their commercial bids. A Defence Ministry official who did not want to be identified said, “The final deal is likely to be signed by the end of the current financial year. At present, an exercise of benchmarking is on.” Benchmarking, incidentally, refers to a process in which a “range of reasonable cost of acquisition” is determined, the official explained. He also said that the four companies that have not been shortlisted have been rejected on technical grounds and the reasons for rejection have been conveyed to them individually.

Separately, Saab, Boeing and Lockheed Martin have confirmed their exit from contention in what could be termed as one of the most highly prized defence contracts in recent times. “We have received this decision and will closely monitor the future process and provide additional information if requested by the Indian Ministry of Defence,” Saab said in a statement. The Seattle-based US company Boeing said, “Boeing has been notified that our Super Hornet proposal for India’s MMRCA competition was not shortlisted in the initial down select. We are obviously disappointed with this outcome. Our next step is to request and receive a debrief from the Indian Air Force. Once we have received the details, we will make a decision concerning our possible options, always keeping in mind the impact on the Indian Air Force.” As far as Lockheed is concerned, one of its New Delhi-based spokesperson said it was told by US authorities that Washington would respond to the Indian Defence Ministry’s letter on the competition. Apparently, there was no response from the Russian side. Their earlier non-participation by MiG-35 in the Aero India 2011 air show indicated that perhaps they had already got a whiff of not making it in the final cut and therefore, chose not to comment at the time of actual short-listing.

The short-listing has given rise to a plethora of theories, speculations and deductions. There is general agreement in some quarters that technical considerations had dictated the shortlist for the MMRCA order, overriding other aspects such as the ones aimed at boosting Indo-US relations that have been steadily warming in the past decade and upgraded to the level of “strategic partnership”. “The fact that the Americans are out of the shortlist clearly indicates that the IAF and the Indian Government went purely by technical parameters, and not so much by strategic considerations,” said an analyst from the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). Agreeing, another Delhi-based defence analyst commented that the European aircraft being of newer generation may have been technically more capable than the comparatively older generation aircraft offered by the US companies. It is believed that out of an exhaustive 643 parameters examined during the evaluation phases, it were the European fighters Eurofighter and Rafale, out of the six contenders, which met the laid down criteria in most cases.