France Makes Offer To Supply India With Fighters
France has made a new offer to supply India with 20 Rafale multirole combat fighters — enough for one squadron — that are currently flying with the French Air Force.
A visiting team from the French Ministry of Defense (MoD) made the offer here Oct. 6 in separate briefings with the Indian Air Force’s commander, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, and Indian Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt.
The new French offer is a result of India’s request to buy Mirage-2000H aircraft from the French Air Force inventory, a senior French diplomat here said. During their briefings, he said, the French MoD team said France cannot offer India any used Mirage-2000Hs immediately because the aircraftfirst must be decommissioned, a lengthy procedure.
“In order to fill up the depleting inventory of combat plates with the Indian Air Force, the Indian government should buy used Rafale aircraft as an interim measure, and thereafter France will be able to supply around 40 Mirage-2000H aircraft by 2012,” the diplomat said.
However, a senior Indian Defence Ministry official said the new French offer “has come to us all of a sudden, and we will take time to review the proposal. However, India is very keen to purchase used Mirage 2000H aircraft from France.”
The same ministry official said French officials confirmed that Paris has begun a dialogue with Qatar — at the behest of India’s Defence Ministry — to purchase 12 used Qatari Mirage 2000-5 aircraft, which in turn would be sold to India. But “the French government has not given us any time commitment for deliveries of the used planes,” he added.
That proposed deal, along with the possible supply of used French Air Force Mirage 2000-H aircraft, is part of an understanding reached during the Sept. 3-5 visit to Paris of Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Last year, India negotiated with Qatar to buy that country’s Mirage 2000-5 aircraft directly, but the negotiations collapsed when the governments couldn’t agree on a price.
The Indian Air Force also wants 52 of its Mirage 2000-H aircraft, which are five years overdue for midlife upgrades, to be upgraded to the Mirage 2000-9 standard.
“Once the procurement of the 12 Mirage 2000-5 and the 40 used Mirage 2000-H aircraft is finalized, then the Indian Air Force would ask Dassault International, the [original equipment manufacturer] of the Mirage aircraft, to upgrade” the Qatari aircraft and six Indian Mirage-2000-Hs to the -2000-9 standard, an Indian Air Force official said.
The upgraded planes would be equipped with Israeli avionics, electronic warfare systems and Russian armaments, he added. Thereafter, India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. would upgrade the remaining Mirage aircraft in Bangalore with technical help from Dassault, the Air Force official said.
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Porra porque eles não ofereceram esses Rafales "usados" em vez dos Matusa para o Brasil?
Se eles querem Mirage 2000 bem que nos poderiamos vender nossos 12 Mirage 2000 para eles.
