Rafale deal in simple words - Part 1
Till 2014 - India planned to buy 126 jets & Rafale was chosen by Indian army as the best fighter jet.
126 jets means 7 squadron. Each squadron contains 18 jets.
In the planned 126 jets - 18 will be bought in Flyaway condition & manufactured in France + 108 should be manufactured in HAL
Why 18 was planned to be manufacture in France ?
India wanted Dassault to manufacture all Rafale jets in India but manufacturing & tech transfer needs time. But air force running short in numbers on active jets. So it want 1 squadron (18 in jets) as immediate requirement to counter Pakistan. So we planned to buy 18 in flyaway condition.
Why deal was on hold ?
India wanted Dassault to guarantee quality of all 126 jets (including the 108 to be manufactured in HAL) which Dassault was not agreeing. Dassault was very adamant that they will only give guarantee for 18 to be manufacture by them in France but not for the 108 manufactured by HAL
So the deal was put on hold till Modi came to power.
When Modi came to power in 2014, China was raising as a threat to India. (Remember Dokhlam issue) So Army requested to buy another 18 jets as immediate requirement to counter China.
So India talked to Dassault again but this time via French goverment.
We ordered 36 jets (18 to counter Pakistan & 18 to counter China) instead of previous 18 to be manufactured in France. (Still the deadlock for 108 to be manufactured by HAL is not resolved)
So we are gonna get 2 squadrons instead of one squadron planned previously in fly away condition.
Since we are buying 36 jets instead of 18, India negotiated with France for some benefits/offers. One benefit India got is called the offset clause. (Thanks to the IITn Mr Manohar parrikar, then Defense minister of India who negotiated this offer package)
According to the offset clause, Dassault will invest half of the total 36 jets money (total money is 60K crore) in Indian defense manufacturing. So around 30K crore will be invested in Make In India initiatives. (This 30K is not at all related to 36 Rafale jets we are buying)
Now it's up to Dassault to chose whom they wish to do business to spend the 30K crore.. they chose 72 offset manufacturing partners including Anil Ambani. These 72 are not going to build anything related to 36 jets we ordered in France.
36 jets will be manufactured purely in France & will be handover to India with all weapons fitted.
So what's the controversy ?
According to Rahul Gandhi, Reliance was chosen because of Modi. But Dassault claims its our choice to chose our partners. They even chose Mahindra as one of partners among 72 but Congress wanted to create a controversy out of this deal. So they simply project Ambani.
Whatever deal we negotiated today is only for 36 jets to address immediate requirements & India may go for another contract to manufacture remaining 90 jets in India with other manufacturer or even Rafale in future.
There is no controversy around Rafale deal but simply politics..
126 jets means 7 squadron. Each squadron contains 18 jets.
In the planned 126 jets - 18 will be bought in Flyaway condition & manufactured in France + 108 should be manufactured in HAL
Why 18 was planned to be manufacture in France ?
India wanted Dassault to manufacture all Rafale jets in India but manufacturing & tech transfer needs time. But air force running short in numbers on active jets. So it want 1 squadron (18 in jets) as immediate requirement to counter Pakistan. So we planned to buy 18 in flyaway condition.
Why deal was on hold ?
India wanted Dassault to guarantee quality of all 126 jets (including the 108 to be manufactured in HAL) which Dassault was not agreeing. Dassault was very adamant that they will only give guarantee for 18 to be manufacture by them in France but not for the 108 manufactured by HAL
So the deal was put on hold till Modi came to power.
When Modi came to power in 2014, China was raising as a threat to India. (Remember Dokhlam issue) So Army requested to buy another 18 jets as immediate requirement to counter China.
So India talked to Dassault again but this time via French goverment.
We ordered 36 jets (18 to counter Pakistan & 18 to counter China) instead of previous 18 to be manufactured in France. (Still the deadlock for 108 to be manufactured by HAL is not resolved)
So we are gonna get 2 squadrons instead of one squadron planned previously in fly away condition.
Since we are buying 36 jets instead of 18, India negotiated with France for some benefits/offers. One benefit India got is called the offset clause. (Thanks to the IITn Mr Manohar parrikar, then Defense minister of India who negotiated this offer package)
According to the offset clause, Dassault will invest half of the total 36 jets money (total money is 60K crore) in Indian defense manufacturing. So around 30K crore will be invested in Make In India initiatives. (This 30K is not at all related to 36 Rafale jets we are buying)
Now it's up to Dassault to chose whom they wish to do business to spend the 30K crore.. they chose 72 offset manufacturing partners including Anil Ambani. These 72 are not going to build anything related to 36 jets we ordered in France.
36 jets will be manufactured purely in France & will be handover to India with all weapons fitted.
So what's the controversy ?
According to Rahul Gandhi, Reliance was chosen because of Modi. But Dassault claims its our choice to chose our partners. They even chose Mahindra as one of partners among 72 but Congress wanted to create a controversy out of this deal. So they simply project Ambani.
Whatever deal we negotiated today is only for 36 jets to address immediate requirements & India may go for another contract to manufacture remaining 90 jets in India with other manufacturer or even Rafale in future.
There is no controversy around Rafale deal but simply politics..