#RafaleScam: Fallout on MMRCA 2.0
Manufacturers concerned over implications of Rafale revelations

Art: Saurabh Joshi/StratPost

The controversy over the Indian order for 36 Rafale fighter aircraft has received much attention – most notably for the impact it has had on the political environment in the run-up to the General Elections to be held in 2019, with allegations of impropriety, including crony capitalism, being leveled against the government.

“The process is so elaborate, difficult and expensive. If you’re permitting cheating, at least have the decency to not make the rest of us work so hard.”

But one under-reported fallout of this controversy and the revelations that have emerged as it played out, is the impact it has had on the confidence of competing fighter aircraft manufacturers in the integrity of the new Indian Air Force (IAF) contest for 110 fighter aircraft.

Several revelations have emerged from the controversy over the Rafale order.

New Revelations

The Economic Times reported in August that a defence ministry review of the selection of the Dassault Rafale as L1 in the earlier contest for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) had discovered that if the Rafale were to be produced under licence in India (an essential requirement of the winning bid under the terms of the MMRCA RFP), Dassault’s Rafale bid would no longer be the L1, or lowest bid.

The Eurofighter Typhoon would have then become the effective L1.

It has also emerged that the benchmark decided by the defence ministry for the price of the 36 Rafale aircraft was revised upwards by EUR 3 billion on the basis of Dassault’s bid for the Rafale in the MMRCA contest.

Not to mention, the bureaucratic musical chairs that played out among officials dealing with the acquisition in the defence ministry and the allegations of a quid pro quo over offsets and the implication of former French President Francoise Hollande.

And the ex post facto justifications sought for the 36 Rafale order have all cumulatively raised eyebrows, provoked side-ward glances and confirmed gnawing suspicions among representatives of competing fighter aircraft manufacturers about how the Government of India went about the acquisition.

Doubts about MMRCA 2.0

“Just create an easier process and award it to the bribing froggies.”

StratPost spoke to a number of such representatives and asked them what they thought of the new contest in the context of the new details that have emerged.

Here’s what they had to say on condition of anonymity.

“Yes, I have concerns about the integrity of the upcoming IAF fighter contest. (But) even more than the Eurofighter v/s Rafale aspect, I’m concerned about whatever side-deal was cut at the onset,” said one executive.

He added, “We spend a lot of intense personal work, company treasure… flight demos, etc…and immense govt resources to compete on something like this. Honestly, we dig very deep… long nights, miss birthdays and anniversaries. And if the whole process is rigged, they deserve an inferior ‘superior’ fighter plane…and to go to jail. Just create an easier process and award it to the bribing froggies. Don’t make it so enormously complex for the sake of ‘transparency’ and indigenisation. We play fair.”

“That’s part of what offends me. The process is so elaborate, difficult and expensive. If you’re permitting cheating, at least have the decency to not make the rest of us work so hard,” he said, concluding, “If/when these things become known, I’d expect there is also risk of lasting diplomatic resentment, as well.”

A second executive said, “IAF always wanted to buy a specific platform and they bought it. No great surprise here.”

Did he think the French might be shown preferential treatment in the new contest?

“Of course we are concerned. They are already laying the arguments (in favour of more Rafale fighters) – great aircraft, pilots trained, common infrastructure, fleet simplification,” he admitted.

He’s not alone.

A third executive said, “In theory, you could still run a fair competition. They have to make sure there is a level playing field in the RFP. The Government of India has already paid for infrastructure costs for the Rafale. They have to account for any advantages that the French would have in the new contest and ensure a level playing field.”

He also shook his head at how the government handled the original MMRCA contest and the order for 36 Rafale fighters. “They should have cancelled the previous MMRCA contest before they announced the Rafale order. All they had to was send a fax to everyone,” he said.

A fourth executive warned, “Just the thought of it being tailored to one of the contestant would discredit the whole idea of a competitive bidding process.”

Executive No. 5 said, “We’re not taking this very seriously. Sure, we’ve responded to the RFI – but the IAF has demonstrated its preference very clearly, for whatever reason. So we’ll look at the RFP once it comes out and see if it’s worth our time.”