Any nation where National Security issues are provided Bipartisan support will certainly do so. General Ved Pradish Malik in his book Kargil from Surprise to Victory has stated that " Opposition parties slam government for lack of defence preparedness, but create of lot of problems when an new equipment is purchased by the government for force modernization, this forces Government to tread very cautiously on import capital items for armed forces which leads to lot of delay". BJP should take one more risk of ordering additional 36 Rafales even if its politically disadvantage one.
Please clear my doubts regarding MMRCA? are we going to evaluvate all the Jets like Rafale, Eurothyphoon Fighter, Gripen, F-18, F-21 or F-16 Block 70 from the start? like they did for MMRCA 1? how long it would take to finalize an aircraft? Negotiations? Off set clauses? It may take a decade or so?
Agree to your first part; National security is non negotiable. Govt. should do everything to what the forces deemed suitable for the defense of country particularly in this precarious situation of hostilities at two fronts. My proposition is to give IAF aircraft of their own choice first, after all as an end user, they have to keep the machine running and fight with it. Then think about the other solutions to support your own cause. Or more simply, let the IAF purchase 2-3 more squadrons of Rafales with the best weaponry. Once they are satisfied, push them on board with indigenous projects like MWF and AMCA with separate funding created under Strategic Project funds.
AFAIK, MMRCA was originally brainchild of Late Mr. Manohar Parrikar (in aftermath of failure of MRCA 1), where as per his assessment, he found that double engine aircraft are expensive both in purchase as well as operating costs (Great Idea !!). As majority of IAF fleet is single engine jets like Migs, he thought it would be prudent to have a single jet fighters for their replacement. But later due to bad precedence set by Augusta Westland scam, the Law ministry suggested to not limit the competition by specifying number of engines in the tender. Hence, came the MMRCA 2.0, where all aircrafts F-16, Gripen, to Su 35 or F-15 will contest with Make in India component.
But now this has embroiled into a tricky position. Where if a low cost Single engined aircraft i.e. F-21/Gripen NG is selected , it would kill the requirement of another single engine aircraft (Tejas MWF) hence aborting the whole Swadeshi/HAL project. Now if you go for Rafale, "Where is the Money, Honey? " would be the pertinent question before the Govt. Most of such lofty projects were launched during 2015-2016 under the assumption that Indian economy will grow at minimum 8-9 %, hence the revenue will increase so is the Def Budget. But sadly, it didn't happen and we are seeing scrambling for funds by the govt to save their butt to support socio-economic welfare programs and at the same time balancing the bare minimum needs of country's defense.
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