Mérignac (AFP)
India takes delivery Tuesday of the first of 36 Rafale ordered in September 2016 to France, which is eyeing new markets for the renewal of the aging fleet of Indian fighters.
The ceremony, which takes place the day the Indian Air Force celebrates its anniversary, is held on the site of the manufacturer Dassault Aviation in Mérignac, near Bordeaux, in the presence of the French Minister of Armies Florence Parly and his Indian counterpart Rajnat Singh.
"The bilateral relations between France and India have progressed enormously in recent years and I look forward to strengthening and deepening these ties," the Indian minister said on Twitter before flying to France. .
"We are working well in India and the Indians are looking forward to this plane, a multipurpose aircraft that does the job," said the boss of Dassault Aviation, Eric Trappier, Tuesday in front of the press.
- Controversy in India -
The impatience is as much due to the aging of the disparate fleet - it is composed of Jaguar, Mirage 2000, Sukhoi 30 and Mig 21 and 27 - of the Indian Air Force, as many ups and downs since the call international tender launched in 2007. Originally carried on 126 aircraft, it was won five years later by the Rafale.
Engaged since then in exclusive negotiations that included the requirement to build 108 Rafale on the spot, the Hindu nationalistic government of Narendra Modi finally announced in April 2015 the purchase of 36 Rafale built in France, which gave rise to the contract signed in September 2016.
The latter has also been at the center of controversy for over a year in India, until the re-election of Narandra Modi in the spring.
The opposition accused the government of favoring a private conglomerate, Reliance Group, as a Dassault partner, at the expense of the state-owned Hindustan Aerospace Industries (HAL). Reliance Group is led by businessman Anil Ambani, presumed close to the prime minister.
The Indian Supreme Court refused in December 2018 to open an investigation, assuring "no doubt about the award process" and finding "no substantial evidence of commercial favoritism".
While it is mandated to face two simultaneous conflicts with China and Pakistan, the Indian Air Force is supposed to have 42 squadrons when it can only painfully align with 33 of them. currently, according to the Military Balance of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
- "Military priority" -
"Combat aviation is a tool and a strategic asset for them, and as such, its renovation is both political and a major military priority", observes AFP General Jean-Paul Palomeros, former head of staff of the French Air Force and expert at the strategic intelligence firm CEIS.
In the "Make in India" policy promoted by Narendra Modi, the contract provides for offsets. Dassault and Reliance have created a joint venture, DRAL, and are building a plant in Nagpur, central India, which will be supplying elements of Dassault's Falcon business aircraft.
"We are making partnerships with Indian companies as part of the" Make in India, "said Eric Trappier Tuesday.
India also made an official request for information in May 2017 for the supply of 57 fighter jets for the Indian Navy and another in July 2018 for 110 aircraft for the Indian Air Force. Dassault Aviation responded in both cases.
Used by the French Air Force since 2004, the Rafale has long had trouble exporting. The fighter plane found for the first time export taker in 2015 in Egypt and Qatar, which had ordered 24 each. Doha lifted an option in December 2017 for an additional 12 Rafale, bringing to 36 the number of aircraft that will be used by the country's air force.
The 36 Indian Rafale will be stationed on the bases of Ambala, near Kashmir and the Pakistan border, and Hasimara, in West Bengal.
© 2019 AFP