shocking part of this MRCA tender
Rafale Partners with Reliance
RIL should become the biggest Indian player in Combat Jets
..:: India Strategic ::. IAF: Rafale Partners with Reliance
call me crazy but ,
I was actually pleased when i heard Rafale was declared L1.
Having to negotiate with 5 different Countries and their aviation corps for parts and servicing and upgrades would have been nightmare , given how much trouble we have with just one. Not to mention having to be at the mercy of 5 different foreign polices . Our relations with some of those countries just are not at that point , and all it takes is for one to trow the spanner in the works
France was was easier to deal with and tested war time supplier.
I have no question that Rafale met and may have even exceeded the technical requirements of the IAF.
I have the feeling they were declared L1 for all the wrong reasons.
Dassault has been in India for while , i think they know very well what kind of greasing needs to be done to get things done.
Well enough and willing enough not to get caught. Don't get me wrong i am not implying Bufors.
I think they employed a lot more political capital and maneuvering to get this point.
Just recently i read , that Dassault may have artificially raised priced on Mirage Deal and others , just so that they can undercut the Rafale and that the IAF may have willingly goen along with it to make the Rafale most preferred. May or may not be true but that was described as being a "masterstroke" to me it feels like a joke and insult to the process. Honestly speaking i would not be surprised if this is how Dassault did business as fact.
That being said i was only half surprised today , when i found out about the Reliance tie up. On one Hand i don't think many people did not think to see Reliance come into Defence in such a big way. But i was not really surprised to see that Dassault choose to Reliance. They seem to be the perfect for each other. Dassault knows how to work the system , Reliance is the champ when it comes to bending the process to get your way. They are the biggest thugs in the Indian Private sector and in my opinion i think Dassault has no problem working with or being the thug(we have seen the kind hardball they play in other Defense deals, what kind of money did they ask HAL when they were asked to modify the Engine for the LOH/LUH). Given that so many Political figures have massive stakes in Reliance. It has all the political capital to get things done, and now so does Dassault. So many heavy weights are going to trow their weight around to help Reliance make as much money as possible , which means they make more money .
IAF gets the jet it wants, Dassault gets all the political pull it wants in India defence deals , Reliance gets to make an entry into Defence in a very big way. Government Babus can make even more money abusing their position, we get that private sector involvement we have been wanting for the last few years.
Sure the Tax payer losses out yet again and the process is circumvented yet again.
To me it all feels a little hollow due to my that feeling everything happened the way it happened because the powers that be had an excellent plan to make more money through their investments in Reliance and defense offsets scheme and not because Dassault was the most competitive.
Then again i said call me crazy.