Highlights
- Rafale aircraft facing issues of corruption for price and favoritism
- HAL and Dassault disagree on the technological handover
- Doubts remain in the minds of the netizens about the true deal behind Rafale
Rafale airplanes were supposed to be the classiest defense jets to be used by the Indian Air Force. The government of India started its quest to get a good class of jets for the nation’s defense. The Rafale model came to be decided in recent times, but controversies have not left its back since Narendra Damodar Modi has introduced it. Let us know some of the scandals and corruption related to this prestigious jet designed by the Indo-French collaboration.
Background
It was on the fateful 31st January of 2021, the Indian Ministry of Defence announced to the world that the Dassault Rafale won the competition of MMRCA to supply about 126 aircraft to the Indian defense team. There were to be additional 63 aircraft along with the ones that have been mentioned. The first 18 of these high-quality aircraft were to be supplied by the license of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The transfer of technological power was supposed to be handed over to HAL by Dassault Rafale.
Rafale was considered to be a great choice for the Indian Economy as it was chosen from the lowest bidder and had a combination of cost acquisition and power transfer. The power was to be transferred for 40 years, by which India would have developed a technology that is far better than Rafale. However, the negotiations of HAL and Dassault did not go well. India wanted Dassault to ensure the quality of aircraft designed by HAL but the team refused to do so.
Through back on Rafale Agreement
After Mr. Modi announced in April 2015 that the 36 aircraft would be used and developed in this Rafale agreement, Manish Tewari, the spokesperson of the Indian National Congress, asked the government about the rise of price in this particular agreement. It had been decided that 715 crore INR would be used to fund the agreement, but the price was raised to 1600 crore INR. This was a matter of economic downfall as the taxpayers’ money is used to fund these large projects.
Another case of corruption that accompanied this case was the favoritism shown to a third-party vendor in India. It has been alleged that Mukesh Ambani has been present during the signing of the deal between India and France. This issue is quite worrisome but the present government has blown off these rumors. Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman denied any such activity in the deal.
Final Talk on Rafale Aircraft
Even after all of these controversial issues, Rafale was introduced in India with much fanfare. We have to hope that it does not come to use in any situation as it will definitely mean war on either side.
