IAF drops Russia from $1 bn deal

[tigershark]

IAF drops Russia from $1 bn deal

Rahul Singh, Hindustan Times
Email Author
New Delhi, May 25, 2009
First Published: 01:25 IST(25/5/2009)
Last Updated: 01:45 IST(25/5/2009)
IAF drops Russia from $1 bn deal

Russia is set to lose a billion dollar (Rs 48,000 crore) defence deal for midair refuellers, signalling a break in its over 50-year-old monopoly as India’s preferred military supplier.

The former communist giant has clearly lost favour with the Indian military, as the air force has decided not to field any more Russian Ilyushin-78 refuellers to keep fighter jets airborne for considerably longer periods by tanking them up during flight.

After operating Il-78 tankers for almost six years, the Indian Air Force has said the Russian platform does not meet its requirements and it wants to deploy the Airbus A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) offered by European aerospace corporation EADS.

The Il-78 and Airbus 330 MRTT were competing for the $1 billion global tender floated three years ago by the defence ministry for six midair refuellers to extend the operating radiuses of Indian fighter jets.

In an exclusive interview to HT, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major said, “We have finished all evaluations and selected the A330 MRTT. The deal will come up for final approval by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) very soon. The Russian platform did not meet certain requirements.” The A330 MRTT is a military derivative of the Airbus A330 airliner.

Cracks in the India-Russia defence relationship have existed for some time now. Some of the irritants include Russia seeking mid-course price revisions in contracts for Sukhoi-30 fighters and aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, a problem of steady supply of spares, poor vendor support after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and transfer of technology issues.

The air chief, who retires on May 31 on turning 62, said, “After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia has changed the whole pattern of doing defence business. Now we are faced with issues concerning spares, vendor support and built-in delays in the structure of their centralised military corporations.”

Two years ago, Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta had publicly said that India needed to take a relook at its military relationship with Russia, much to the government’s discomfort. The armed forces maintain that Russian equipment comes cheap but entails huge maintenance costs.

The A330 MRTT has won several tanker competitions with contracts signed by the governments of United Kingdom, Australia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The first A330 MRTT would be delivered to the IAF within three years of signing of the deal while the remaining five would be inducted 15 months after that.

Source
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=dade59fe-cce1-467f-9282-c4707edd9c80&Headline=IAF+drops+Russia+from+%241+bn+deal

[tigershark]

Saw this coming big time the A330 carries something like 40 pallets of cargo plus the fuel load dual purpose aircraft.  I assume some support, parts, etc could be bought commercially on some levels seems like a better investment.  I can even see Indian future AWACS made out of this platform. 

[F-111 C/C]

Looks like the IAF is starting to get the 'you get what you pay for' picture. Maybe they'll feel the same about new fighters.

[Webmaster]

The A330 is superior, good decision. Dual-purpose is a huge selling point. The rest of the article I am not sure about, seems very political.

Firstly, I can't see just six Il-78MKI tankers costing 1 Billion. On the other hand 1 Billion for six A330 is pretty close to what the US would have paid for just the production of 64 aircraft. Anyway, let's see what contract is eventually signed. Then we'll see if they got the 'you get what you pay for'. And then we'll see in future if they also got the economics behind the logistics of supporting yet another platform.

Then the 'support' reasoning. The Il-78's platform, Il-76, is like the Eastern Hercules almost. Lots of them about, and many companies able to provide commercial services for them. Even African and cash-strapped cargo charter companies seems to be able to maintain them. Furthermore the producer TAPO is supporting a huge commercial fleet of other transports and airlines, quite a difference with IAPO. And the IFR pods are from Israel...

Indeed, maybe they will feel the same about new fighters. They probably will even from a superiority point of view alone. Concerns about support and price changes will probably also weigh against the Russian offers, however they haven't been rejected yet. I'd agree with them there, but in light of the above tanker contract, I think the author just tied the A330 selection and concern about Russian support together.


Where was Boeing in this tender? Six aircraft not a big deal to them? They get the USAF contract anyway, so why bother?