Germans Push For Eurofighter Inspite Of Opposition At Home

German chancellor Angela Merkel lobbied hard for Eurofighters during her visit to India to receive the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, 2009.

“We are participating in a lot of very interesting economic projects. It is certainly not a secret that with the Eurofighters we made very good proposals and suggestions. Germany is very much interested in intensifying its relationship with India,” Merkel said during a joint press conference with prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Push for fighter jets deal: India plans to procure 126 MMRCA. The deal if done may give a business worth $11 billion to the European consortium. Germany, which is a major stake holder in the consortium, is expecting this could balloon to another 80 more fighter aircrafts (total 200) translating the total deal to $18 billion, going by India’s trend of procuring Hawk, Sukhoi and MI-17.

“Procurement procedures are very transparent in India as they attempt to be the world over. We are convinced that we have the best product on offer as our competitors do too. We will certainly not exert any kind of influence on this process. We wish this to be a very transparent process and a smooth one. We are aware of the fact that we have a good product and we shall wait and see,” the German chancellor said.

Support for IMF chiefcandidate: It was speculated that Merkel would also seek India’s support for the candidature of French finance minister Christine Lagarde for the job of new IMF chief. India has been rooting for an IMF candidate from the emerging economies like the Bric countries. But it seems now that India has left the insistence as the PM said that “the best person should win regardless of nationality”.

Bilateral talks on defence, security, trade: The two sides held bilateral talks on cooperation in defence and security, trade and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reforms. India and Germany reviewed the security situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Germany has expressed its intention to withdraw its soldiers from Afghanistan. India wants NATO forces to stay in Afghanistan. Manmohan Singh said terrorism would have to be fought on all fronts and not selectively.

“Our cooperation can be further enhanced because we face similar challenges — fight against terrorism… we are united in the wish that Afghanistan may become a state and take security matters in its own hands. Afghanistan has to develop as an independent security architecture, taking its security into its own hands because this is a better possible protection against the terrorist attacks,” Merkel said.

Inspite of being non-permanent members in the UNSC, India and Germany do not agree on the issue of reforms in the Security Council. Germany, which was so far was on board with India, has taken a different stand and is talking about an interim solution for 10 years, while India is strongly pushing for reforms. India is aiming to collect signatures from 100 countries to push for immediate reforms in the UNSC.

Four agreements for cooperation in vocational education, medical research, science and technology and nuclear physics were signed between the two countries. Germany has also expressed intention to train Indian commandos from the National Security Guards and provide equipment to combat terror mechanisms.

Nuclear proliferation worry: Merkel made a strong pitch for curbing nuclear proliferation with special focus on Iran. “We need to keep a close eye on nuclear proliferation. We need to see to it that we prevent this (nuclear proliferation) from spreading. Iran is a particularly a topical case,” she said.

Merkel is facing opposition at home for pushing Eurofighter to India.The German Red and Green parties are opposing sale of Eurofighter Typhoons to India. The German opposition parties SPD and Greens have criticized the government of the desired business with India as “a contribution to the escalation.”. German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU) who announced his resignation, March 1, 2011, was criticized for his promotion of the Euro Fighter in India. During Aero India 2011.

India Wants To Ink The $10.4bn MMRCA Deal By December 2011

Rejecting the carping by those ejected out of the hotly-contested $10.4 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) race, most notably the US, India is going full throttle to ink the "mother of all defence deals'' by December.

The aim is to ensure that deliveries of the 126 fighters begin from December 2014 onwards to stem IAF's fast-eroding combat edge. Top defence sources, in fact, said plans were afoot to base the first MMRCA squadron in the western sector, most probably at Ambala, by end-2015.

The first 18 jets will come in "fly-away condition" from the aviation major -- only Eurofighter Typhoon (EADS) and French Rafale (Dassault) are now left in contention -- finally selected for the project.

Subsequent batches of the 108 fighters, to be manufactured in India by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) after transfer of technology, will progressively be based in other operationally relevant locations, with special focus on the eastern front with China.

"The first fighter built in HAL should roll out in December 2016. Thereafter, HAL will deliver six jets per year, which will go up to 20 per year later. HAL will achieve 85% technology absorption by the end,'' said a source.

With plans clearly chalked out, MoD ruled out any scope for comebacks by the eliminated four fighters -- American F/A-18 'Super Hornet' ( Boeing) and F-16 'Super Viper' ( Lockheed Martin), Swedish Gripen (Saab), and Russian MiG-35 ( United Aircraft Corporation).

With only Typhoon and Rafale left in the reckoning after the "gruelling and transparent'' technical and flying evaluation, MoD's Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) and Technical Offsets Evaluation Committee (TOEC) are now working to submit their reports soon.

"We should be ready to open the Typhoon and Rafale commercial bids in July,'' said the source. Thereafter, it will take another month to determine the lowest bidder (L-1) because of "huge mathematical and data verification'' of the lifecycle costs of operating the jets over a 40-year period. Commercial negotiations with the L-1 vendor will then begin before the final contract is ready for signing by December.

Asked about "points'' being raised by eliminated vendors, sources said only Rafale and Typhoon were found "compliant'' on all the 643-660 technical attributes or ASQRs (air staff qualitative requirements) laid down to meet IAF's specific operational requirements.

"Our test pilots flew 222 sorties, over 270 hours, on the six fighters in different weather conditions in India and abroad. Each vendor was informed of its jet's performance at every stage... they have no reason to complain,'' the source said.

But what about the crucial AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar, which is operational only on American fighters at present? MoD said the ASQRs did "not require a flying AESA radar''. Instead, vendors had to demonstrate "a baseline radar model in flight or on a test-bed, the complete working model in a lab and how it would be integrated'' on the Indian MMRCA. "Five fighters, including Rafale and Typhoon, met this requirement,'' said the source.

Overall, MoD and IAF are confident there are "enough safeguards'' built into the project, which include "performance-based logistics'' to ensure India "gets the best machine, spares and product support''.