The global tender for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF) was floated in August 2007, six years after having been initiated by Air Headquarters. The MiG-21 fleet had been overtaken by obsolescence and the light combat aircraft was nowhere on the horizon. In the context of the dwindling fleet, the IAF needed to induct modern multi-role fighters quickly to retain its operational edge. The request for proposal (RFP) for a new platform was thus initiated through a 211-page tender document formulated in accordance with the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) that had been crafted by the Ministry of Defence and first promulgated in 1992 post the collapse of the USSR. The objectives were to provide a wider choice, best value for money and facilitate growth of the indigenous aerospace industry. This document referred to as DPP 1992 laid down an inflexible and complex procedure for defence procurement. The DPP was thereafter subjected to frequent modification after each of which, a new twist was added making the procurement procedure even more tedious. Of course all this was done with entirely noble intentions and in the national interest! The RFP for the MMRCA was drafted on the basis of DPP 2005 and currently, the 2013 version in vogue.

For the MMRCA contract there were six contenders from the leading global aerospace majors in the US, Europe and Russia namely Lockheed Martin Corporation and Boeing from the US, Russian Air Corporation MiG, Saab of Sweden, Dassault Aviation of France and EADS – a consortium of nations from Europe. After a gruelling technical and flight evaluation, the Rafale along with Eurofighter from EADS was shortlisted. Finally in January 2012, the IAF declared the Rafale twin-engine fourth-generation fighter as the preferred platform based on lower commercial bid. However, despite prolonged and extensive contract negotiations thereafter between the parties concerned, both Indian and French, finalisation of the deal and award of contract has remained elusive. Issues related to fulfilment of offset obligations, transfer of technology, product support, maintenance, life-cycle cost, creation of infrastructure for licensed production and partnership with Indian aerospace companies both in the public and private sector, all proved to be contentious and some being serious impediments during the contract negotiations. The IAF appeared helpless in the matter. In fact, in the final months of the UPA II regime, the deal for the Rafale appeared to be clouded in discomforting uncertainty generating extreme frustration in the IAF. Some in high places were even inclined to believe that hopes of the IAF achieving a quantum leap in operational capability through the acquisition of the MMRCA or even just to prevent further erosion of operational potential, had receded into oblivion.

For the IAF, the situation was precarious and continues to be so even today. As against a revised authorised strength of combat squadrons of 42 that the IAF is expected to attain by the end of the decade, the service currently has just 34 squadrons. Also, with the phasing out of the MiG-21 and MiG-27 fleets in the next three to five years, the strength of combat squadrons will drop significantly and could well go down to 26, just 60 per cent of the required force level. The situation is hardly comforting for the IAF especially with the growing hostility with China, the strengthening Sino-Pak nexus and the increasing role of airpower in future wars.

However, with the Modi Government now at the helm of affairs in Delhi, there is hope for the IAF. The MMRCA tender appears to have been infused with a fresh lease of life reviving hopes of the award of contract in the near future to Dassault Aviation for 126 Rafale combat aircraft. The MMRCA project also received a powerful impetus from the French Government through the two-day visit of Laurent Fabius, the Foreign Minister of France, that began on June 30, 2014. After his meeting with the his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj and discussion on the $20-billion deal for the Rafale combat aircraft, the French Foreign Minister stated that there had been some positive developments and expressed high level of confidence on the speedy finalisation of the contract.

The IAF is now brimming with optimism and expects the contract to be awarded in the next few months and the Rafale to boost its offensive capability by the end of the decade. The Modi Government has already signalled the importance that national security in its priorities and hence cost escalation is unlikely to be an impediment. However, successful execution of the MMRCA contract notwithstanding, there is an urgent and unquestionable need to review and restructure the DPP to render it flexible and dynamic enough to permit the Indian armed forces to meet with the imperatives of national security.