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BY : VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI FOR Defensenews
Technology transfer will not count toward the offset requirement in bids for India’s $10 billion Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), Indian Defence Ministry officials have decided.
Potential bidders learned of this new twist in an Oct. 30 meeting with ministry officials. The deadline for offset proposals has been extended until June, although technical bids are still due in March, a senior ministry official said.
The change will force bidders to recalculate their offers and increase the cost to the Indian Air Force, said one senior executive of a foreign aircraft firm. “The transfer of technology alone could add up to 60 percent of the total cost of the aircraft,” the executive said.
One exception: Ministry officials say dual-use technologies ones of value to defense and private aviation may be counted as offsets.
As well, India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics, the lead production agency, has suggested that subsystems manufactured through a joint venture with a state-owned Indian defense firm be counted as offsets. Under Indian law, foreign arms suppliers that win contracts valued at more than $76 million must give Indian firms subcontract work worth 30 percent of the value.
Among the expected contenders are Russia’s MiG-35, Sweden’s JAS-39 Gripen, the French Rafale, Lockheed Martin’s F-16, Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and the Eurofighter Typhoon. The request for proposals went out in August.
Bidders must transfer technology in several areas, including airframes, engines, their accessories, radar, avionics, electronic-warfare equipment, other electronic subsystems, maintenance tools and equipment, ground support and handling equipment, and complete tooling to build aircraft, engines and accessories.
India also is looking for technologies such as thrust vectoring, weapon-control radar, mission computers and flight control computers, the executive said.
Permission to transfer this kind of technology will not be easy to get, he said, because the government in the country of origin has to give approval. |
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