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CCS reviews security scenario : Clears major defence deals

	April 04, 2005

The Indian government cleared several major defence deals on March 29, including a proposal to buy 12 used Mirage 2000 fighter jets from Qatar. The move comes close on the heels of the US announcement to sell F-16 jets to Pakistan.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), the country’s highest decision-making body on security issues, gave the green signal to a proposal to begin negotiations with Qatar on buying the French-made Mirage jets. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chaired the meeting of the CCS.

The CCS also cleared other defence deals, including the purchase of C303 torpedo decoy systems from Italian company Wass, nine offshore patrol vessels and 11 Dornier 228 maritime surveillance aircraft from Germany.

It also approved the Indian Navy’s plan to upgrade 14 Sea Harrier jets and the building of intermediate jet trainers by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Qatar offered to sell the jets about three years ago and the proposal was thoroughly examined by the Indian Air Force (IAF), which recommended that the jets be purchased to bolster the force’s existing fleet of Mirage 2000s.

“Eighty to 87 percent of life exists in these planes,” Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told a news conference.

IAF officials said the jets offered by Qatar were Mirage 2000-5s, a version superior to the fighters currently operated by the force. An IAF team also visited Qatar some years ago to inspect the jets.

After India initially did not make a firm response to the proposal from Qatar, that country offered the jets to Pakistan.

Qatar bought the 12 jets in 1998 but later decided to sell them as it did not have any use for them or facilities to maintain the aircraft.

India purchased 40 Mirage 2000s in the 1980s and placed a follow-on order for 10 more of the jets in the late 1990s.

The Mirage 2000 probably has the best safety record of all the jets operated by the IAF and played a key role in the 1999 Kargil border conflict when it was used to bomb positions held by Pakistan-backed intruders in the Himalayan heights in Jammu and Kashmir.



Qatari Mirage deal India’s answer to F-16s

The Indian government’s decision to negotiate the purchase of 12 used Mirage 2000-V fighter planes from Qatar is being seen as New Delhi’s immediate response to the US government’s decision to sell F-16 planes to Pakistan.

Senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officials pointed out that both F-16s and Mirage 2000-V aircraft are “nuclear capable,” meaning that they can be used for dropping nuclear bombs.

The officials however would not link the Mirage deal with Qatar with the US decision to sell F-16s to Pakistan.

Officials said negotiations have been going on for some time on the sale of the aircraft with Doha, which wanted to dispose them of as part of the Qatari Air Force’s modernisation drive.

“These (Mirage 2000-Vs) are multi-role combat aircraft and numbers matter. The more we have the better in terms of capability and capacity,” one official said.

The Qatari Embassy in New Delhi described as “good news” India’s decision.

The IAF is in the market for 126 multi-role combat aircraft and the US, while announcing its decision to sell F-16s to Pakistan, offered to India licensed production of F-16s and F-18s.

But sources said the deal with Qatar is outside the 126 multi-role combat aircraft that New Delhi has been scouting for with Russian, French and Swedish manufacturers before the US announced its interest.

The IAF has been satisfied with the French-built Mirage-2000s in its fleet, particularly after its signal role during the Kargil conflict with Pakistan in the summer of 1999, when these aircraft provided the firepower to dislodge Pakistan-backed forces perched at strategic heights in the Himalayan region.

The Mirage 2000-Vs that India has now decided to buy from the Qatari Air Force are the upgraded version of the versatile multi-role fighter jets.

In late 2003, New Delhi had informed Doha that it was not in a position to buy the aircraft but at the same time requested that it be sold to any third country other than Pakistan. Informed sources said the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan had also shown interest in the aircraft.

Sources said the Air Force had done a joint evaluation of the aircraft with Dassault Aviation, manufacturers of the plane, and found them in operational condition.



India to insist on co-production of fighter jets

India will insist on a co-production clause in any future purchases of fighter jets, including the possible acquisition of aircraft from the US, National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan has said.

“Our position remains unchanged that co-production is the only reliable option to secure supplies of defence wares,” Narayanan said in his first interaction with the media since assuming office.

“We have not asked for multi-role combat fighter aircraft from the US. If the US says it will make an offer which India cannot refuse, let us first see what that offer is,” the security expert, who was accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a four-day visit to Mauritius, told reporters.

According to Narayanan, India had several options before it for the purchase of combat aircraft, including French-made Mirage 2000s and Russia’s Su-30s.

“The Air Force has to evaluate various issues such as price, technology and co-production,” he said.

US Ambassador to India David C. Mulford had said in New Delhi last week (on Tuesday) that American fighter jet manufacturers would offer competitive prices and much superior technology that could not be turned down by India.

The US had last week offered to sell India the F-16 and F-18 jets as well as technology to build them. At the same time, it cleared the sale of F-16 jets to Pakistan.

India is likely to float a global tender later this year to buy 126 fighters for its Air Force. Lockheed Martin of the US has already shown interest in selling its aircraft.