Agencies/New Delhi


India will not receive its first Rafale fighter jet from France’s Dassault Aviation for up to two-and-a-half years and tricky issues including pricing must still be worked out, India’s defence minister said.
Manohar Parrikar’s comments on Saturday came a day after India ordered 36 ready-to-fly Rafale fighters to modernise an ageing fleet apace with China and Pakistan, which are fast upgrading military hardware.
While the order is meant to be delivered as soon as possible, terms and conditions of the deal - estimated at about €4bn ($4.25bn) - have yet to be worked out, the minister said.
“It may take two to two-and-a-half years to get the first plane,” Parrikar told reporters. “Fly-away means not tomorrow, it has to be designed as per India’s need, plus there is a requirement of working out the price.”
India and France have negotiated for Rafale fighters for three years. A 2012 agreement to buy 126 jets stalled over cost and a dispute over the assembly of 108 aircraft in India.
A French defence ministry source said on Friday the new deal announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Paris was separate from the original negotiations.
Indian military officials have warned their air force risks falling behind without new foreign warplanes or if local contractors cannot meet the military’s needs in a timely manner.
The reliance on a disparate fleet of Russian-made MiG and French Mirage fighters, along with modern Russian Sukhoi Su-30s, has made it vulnerable. Half of India’s fighters are due to retire by 2024.
The Indian Air Frce has 34 operational squadrons, down from 39 earlier this decade and below the approved strength of 42, a parliamentary committee said in December. The Rafale fighters are expected to replace some of the MiGs and Mirage jets.
Even as India waits for the planes, a prominent member of Modi’s party threatened to block the deal in the Supreme Court.
Subramanian Swamy, who has a reputation as a maverick, said the Rafale jet was weaker than its rivals, without giving evidence for his assertions.
“The Rafale performance of Libya and Egypt turned out to be worst of all the aircraft which were deployed,” he said.
“If the prime minister for some other compulsion anyway decides to go ahead with the deal, then I will have no option but to approach the court.”
Terming the deal “corrupt”, Swamy said it will bring bad name to the ruling party. He said no one in the world was buying the Rafale planes and in the past countries which signed initial agreements to buy the aircraft have scrapped the deal.
“No one is buying the planes. Dassault (Aviation- the company which manufactures the fighter jets) says if India does not buy these planes then they will wind up. Many counties like Switzerland signed an MoU, but later cancelled it,” Swamy said.
The senior BJP leader added that if the government wanted to please France, then it should have bought the company, which is anyway running into losses.
“These babus (bureaucrats) are giving wrong advice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The defence ministry’s opinion is also not this (to buy the planes).”