Well, those are familiar with A.K Antony's career will tell you that he is an atheist!! I don't think I've ever heard him take oath by swearing on God's name. He is supposed to be close to the Hindu religious leader Mata Amritananda Mayi. Not that any of that will help with the MMRCA!!
India opens bids in $10.4-bn combat plane tender.
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Rafale slightly cheaper, Eurofighter offers better offsets & TOT
UK, Italy, Germany, Spain pitch for Eurofighter
Dec 28, 2011
Days before the government is set to finalise the winner of the multi-billion dollar contract to purchase new generation fighters for the Air Force, four heads of governments from the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain have jointly pitched for the Eurofighter in a confidential letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by lending "political support" to the high-profile commercial contract.
The Eurofighter is in a face-off with France's Rafale for the race to provide 126 fighters to the Air Force, that is grappling with a serious shortage of combat aircraft. A decision on the matter is expected within the next few weeks, with Defence Ministry officials indicating that the winner would be announced by the first week of January.
In a joint "confidential" missive to the Prime Minister sent last week, British PM David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel — along with Italian and Spanish Prime Ministers — have said the EADS' Eurofighter is an "excellent aircraft that stands on its own merit".
The joint letter has also welcomed India as the "fifth partner country" in jointly developing the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), in the event of Eurofighter being chosen for the contract. The four PMs have also reaffirmed the "security of supply" in the case of Eurofighter Typhoon.
This joint letter, sources said, is "unprecedented" since the four countries have lent strategic support to the commercial deal ahead of the final decision. They are pitted against the French government-backed Rafale.
It may be recalled that US President Barack Obama had also lobbied for the US aircraft with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to India last year and followed it up with a letter highlighting this contract as being important to his administration. However, the bids of two US companies, along with the Russian and Swedish firms, were rejected after technical evaluation in April this year.
Commercial bids of the two remaining contenders — Dassault's Rafale and EADS's Eurofighter — were opened last month but a decision could not be taken immediately as the Defence Ministry had to make complex cost calculations based on life cycle costs as well as the value of technology transfer. Sources indicated that while the French fighters came out slightly cheaper, the Eurofighter had a strong offsets and technology transfer proposal.
Till now the multi-billion contract strictly followed the technical procedure — four contenders including the American F16 and F18 were knocked out as they failed the flying trials — but the narrow difference between the fly away costs of both fighters has given Indian decision makers the leeway to make a political decision on the purchase.
While the value of the contract was pegged at US $10 billion when the tender was floated in 2007, this is expected to almost double, given inflation and currency variations over the last few years, besides plans to increase the order by 63 more fighters to meet deficiencies in the fighter fleet.
UK, Italy, Germany, Spain pitch for Eurofighter - Express India
Tomcat
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the Color schem on the Tail looks like they took it from the tajesAn artists impression, if Rafale joins IAF.
p2prada
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Yeah! 6 cabinet members are atheist or at least put faith in the constitution rather than God. BTW, this has no link to anything let alone the deal.
Hope we get to know the result in early Jan or else they will keep pushing the dates till the end of time.
Hope we get to know the result in early Jan or else they will keep pushing the dates till the end of time.
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Its nothing but some thousands of papers send by vendors to ministry guys , who cant read or write and spend time looking at it so that they can delay decisions and draw salary for it.
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R O F L ! !
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sesha_maruthi27
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So, finally after a long wait the deal may get canceled
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To stagger procurement over a longer period is a disaster and buying fewer dont equate with the requirement.
If at all the process was finalized a bit earlier , like some 6 months, we could have had a wonderful deal.
It has delayed so much that the MRCA news articles arent thrilling anymore.
If at all the process was finalized a bit earlier , like some 6 months, we could have had a wonderful deal.
It has delayed so much that the MRCA news articles arent thrilling anymore.
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Its possible, the article shows what if ? ..
While the economy may be in bad shape, it's not yet at panic-levels similar to those seen during the meltdowns in Eastern Asia/Russia/Argentina in the late 90s or the Balance of Payment crisis of 91 (all which affected military expenditure in those countries). The fundamentals of the Indian economy are still sound. Even during a prolonged crisis, the government/MOD usually takes a holistic view of what to cut/what not to cut; individual programmes with a significant operational/strategic role like the MMRCA are more likely than not to be spared. Additional purchases may not be sanctioned but the overall programme is unlikely to be affected....judging by the shape of the economy at the moment.
BTW-that JDW article is at least a few days, if not weeks old. And it's not like there are is a shortage of vested interested who would like to see this deal die.
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Here some thing Interesting:
Twinblade
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3 more weeks. Livefist: MMRCA Jet Deal Results Expected In Three Weeks
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[h=2]UK, Italy, Germany, Spain pitch for Eurofighter[/h]
Published December 29, 2011
SOURCE: EXPRESS INDIA
Days before the government is set to finalise the winner of the multi-billion dollar contract to purchase new generation fighters for the Air Force, four heads of governments from the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain have jointly pitched for the Eurofighter in a confidential letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by lending "political support" to the high-profile commercial contract.The Eurofighter is in a face-off with France's Rafale for the race to provide 126 fighters to the Air Force, that is grappling with a serious shortage of combat aircraft. A decision on the matter is expected within the next few weeks, with Defence Ministry officials indicating that the winner would be announced by the first week of January.
In a joint "confidential" missive to the Prime Minister sent last week, British PM David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel — along with Italian and Spanish Prime Ministers — have said the EADS' Eurofighter is an "excellent aircraft that stands on its own merit".
The joint letter has also welcomed India as the "fifth partner country" in jointly developing the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), in the event of Eurofighter being chosen for the contract. The four PMs have also reaffirmed the "security of supply" in the case of Eurofighter Typhoon.
This joint letter, sources said, is "unprecedented" since the four countries have lent strategic support to the commercial deal ahead of the final decision. They are pitted against the French government-backed Rafale.
It may be recalled that US President Barack Obama had also lobbied for the US aircraft with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to India last year and followed it up with a letter highlighting this contract as being important to his administration. However, the bids of two US companies, along with the Russian and Swedish firms, were rejected after technical evaluation in April this year.
Commercial bids of the two remaining contenders — Dassault's Rafale and EADS's Eurofighter — were opened last month but a decision could not be taken immediately as the Defence Ministry had to make complex cost calculations based on life cycle costs as well as the value of technology transfer. Sources indicated that while the French fighters came out slightly cheaper, the Eurofighter had a strong offsets and technology transfer proposal.
Till now the multi-billion contract strictly followed the technical procedure — four contenders including the American F16 and F18 were knocked out as they failed the flying trials — but the narrow difference between the fly away costs of both fighters has given Indian decision makers the leeway to make a political decision on the purchase.
While the value of the contract was pegged at US $10 billion when the tender was floated in 2007, this is expected to almost double, given inflation and currency variations over the last few years, besides plans to increase the order by 63 more fighters to meet deficiencies in the fighter fleet.
UK, Italy, Germany, Spain pitch for Eurofighter | idrw.org
SOURCE: EXPRESS INDIA
Days before the government is set to finalise the winner of the multi-billion dollar contract to purchase new generation fighters for the Air Force, four heads of governments from the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain have jointly pitched for the Eurofighter in a confidential letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by lending "political support" to the high-profile commercial contract.The Eurofighter is in a face-off with France's Rafale for the race to provide 126 fighters to the Air Force, that is grappling with a serious shortage of combat aircraft. A decision on the matter is expected within the next few weeks, with Defence Ministry officials indicating that the winner would be announced by the first week of January.
In a joint "confidential" missive to the Prime Minister sent last week, British PM David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel — along with Italian and Spanish Prime Ministers — have said the EADS' Eurofighter is an "excellent aircraft that stands on its own merit".
The joint letter has also welcomed India as the "fifth partner country" in jointly developing the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), in the event of Eurofighter being chosen for the contract. The four PMs have also reaffirmed the "security of supply" in the case of Eurofighter Typhoon.
This joint letter, sources said, is "unprecedented" since the four countries have lent strategic support to the commercial deal ahead of the final decision. They are pitted against the French government-backed Rafale.
It may be recalled that US President Barack Obama had also lobbied for the US aircraft with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to India last year and followed it up with a letter highlighting this contract as being important to his administration. However, the bids of two US companies, along with the Russian and Swedish firms, were rejected after technical evaluation in April this year.
Commercial bids of the two remaining contenders — Dassault's Rafale and EADS's Eurofighter — were opened last month but a decision could not be taken immediately as the Defence Ministry had to make complex cost calculations based on life cycle costs as well as the value of technology transfer. Sources indicated that while the French fighters came out slightly cheaper, the Eurofighter had a strong offsets and technology transfer proposal.
Till now the multi-billion contract strictly followed the technical procedure — four contenders including the American F16 and F18 were knocked out as they failed the flying trials — but the narrow difference between the fly away costs of both fighters has given Indian decision makers the leeway to make a political decision on the purchase.
While the value of the contract was pegged at US $10 billion when the tender was floated in 2007, this is expected to almost double, given inflation and currency variations over the last few years, besides plans to increase the order by 63 more fighters to meet deficiencies in the fighter fleet.
UK, Italy, Germany, Spain pitch for Eurofighter | idrw.org
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This process has more suspense than a Hirthcock film...:shocked:
JAISWAL
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It is understood that the lowest bidder in India's medium multirole combat aircraft (M-MRCA) competition will be declared in the third week of January 2012. After bids of the two finalist contenders -- Dassault's Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon -- were opened on November 4, it has been hectic work by the committee distilling a winner out of the closely fought final battle, a process that's still very much on.
I'm a little unclear over the issue of validity of the commercial bids, though. It was on April 27 that the Indian MoD made its big down-select, inviting only Dassault and EADS Cassidian to extend the validity of their bids till December 31. The two final bids were finally opened on November 4. But their validity expires tomorrow. Does this mean the MoD needs to get the validity of the bids extended again? Or does it go with the bid value on the day it was opened. MoD sources say validity extension is not an issue at present since the bids were opened, and that provisions are in place for such a situation (in effect, an extension would have been mandatory only if the bids hadn't been opened so far). Either way, if a validity confirmation (or other instrument as applicable) is required from the vendors, today is the last day.
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Livefist: MMRCA Jet Deal Results Expected In Three Weeks
I'm a little unclear over the issue of validity of the commercial bids, though. It was on April 27 that the Indian MoD made its big down-select, inviting only Dassault and EADS Cassidian to extend the validity of their bids till December 31. The two final bids were finally opened on November 4. But their validity expires tomorrow. Does this mean the MoD needs to get the validity of the bids extended again? Or does it go with the bid value on the day it was opened. MoD sources say validity extension is not an issue at present since the bids were opened, and that provisions are in place for such a situation (in effect, an extension would have been mandatory only if the bids hadn't been opened so far). Either way, if a validity confirmation (or other instrument as applicable) is required from the vendors, today is the last day.
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Livefist: MMRCA Jet Deal Results Expected In Three Weeks
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