BY : TOI




After Russian Sukhoi-30MKI air dominance fighters, it’s now the turn of French Mirage-2000 multi-role jets to hit turbulence. France has told India it wants to be paid more for supporting the 52 Mirage-2000s in IAF’s combat fleet. France is demanding "around 25% more as obsolescence price" for product support and supply of spares for Indian Mirage-2000s since it’s closing down the assembly lines for these fighters, say sources.

This comes close after Russia said it wanted to renegotiate the Sukhoi-30MKI deal India has so far inducted around 60 of these fighters out of a contracted 230 to double the present 2.55% yearly cost escalation factor to almost 5%. Upset by France’s new demand, Indian officials have conveyed to their French counterparts that they "cannot renege" on their commitment for product support for the Mirage-2000s over a 40-year period at the normal 5-6% cost escalation per annum specified in the original contracts.

Incidentally, defence minister A K Antony recently expressed concern over delay in deliveries of contracted weapon systems and cost escalations in arms deals. "The problem is not confined to Russia alone. It’s a problem with almost all international contracts," he said.

Mirage-2000s which were used for precision bombing of bunkers constructed by Pakistani intruders in the 1999 Kargil conflict, form the bulwark of India’s air combat power. India has initially bought 40 Mirage-2000s in the mid-1980s, which were followed by another 20 or so in later years.

Since then, around 10 Mirages have been lost in crashes. But IAF remains quite gung-ho about them. At one stage, over two years ago, IAF even wanted the advanced Mirage-2000-V to bag its gigantic $10-billion contract for 126 multi-role combat aircraft.

But first, the government asked IAF to consider other options as well. And then, France announced its decision to close down the Mirage assembly and instead fielded its new Rafale jet for the huge Indian contract.
"We have conveyed to the French that all the original contracts signed with their firms like Dassault (aircraft manufacturer) and Thales (weapons systems integrator) mentioned the 5-6% annual cost escalation clause," said an official.

Interestingly, while negotiations are in progress to resolve this imbroglio, India is also finalising its project to upgrade its Mirage-2000s to extend their operational life by 20-25 years. Officials said while the original equipment manufacturers (Dassault and others) will "lead the programme", Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) too will be closely associated with it.

"In the initial Mirage purchases, India did not gain much in terms of technology since there was no indigenous licensed production. But this time, HAL will gain in the upgrade programme, which will be launched within two years," said another official.

The upgrade programme will include new avionics, including an advanced navigation system, new mission computers with increased capacity and processing speed,
helmet-mounted displays, glass cockpits, internal electronic warfare suites and, of course, better armaments and weapon systems.