| Font Size |
A Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today cleared the deal to procure 490 MICA missiles manufactured by French firm MBDA for Euro 950 million, Defence Ministry sources said in New Delhi.
The missiles would be deployed on the 51 Mirage 2000 aircraft, which are already undergoing upgrades at French facilities under a €1.47 billion deal signed earlier this year.
Under the deal, MBDA will have to do offsets worth 30 per cent of the deal meaning that they will have to invest 315 million Euros back in the Indian defence sector.
The Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) mandates that foreign vendors bagging deals worth over Rs 300 crore have to invest back at least 30 per cent of the contract's worth into Indian defence, civil aerospace and homeland security sector.
India signed a deal with French companies Thales and Dassault Aviation, which will take ten years to carry out mid-life upgrade of IAF's 51 Mirage-2000 fighters.
Two aircraft have already been flown to France for upgrades and the remaining would be modernised in India at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) facilities here in India.
"The cost of the contract for upgrade of the Mirage 2000 with Thales is Euro 1,470 million while the cost of the contract with HAL is Rs 2,020 crores(around 340 million) Euro.
The upgrade of the aircraft is expected to be completed by mid 2021," Defence Minister AK Antony recently informed Parliament.
Discuss this story on expressindia forums
|
|
My disappointment is why Indian scientists or engineers could not make these kind of weapons in India itself instead of paying money to foreign countries. We don't spend money on research and development.
Any defence procurement should go through public debate with defence experts, defence chiefs and the opposition openly debating over the necessity of any such procurement. We need transparency in such big deals since the establishment is already very corrupt. It is our tax payers money and we have the right to have such public debate before any such deals which includes millions of rupees. The UPA government knows that its days in power are limited now and so want to quickly sign all such murky deals to fill its coffer. Did we the nation fail to see the Italian connections in this defence deal?
What italian connections? They are FRENCH companies. Please go thru the periodic reports put our my MoD in Lok Sabha and get the right perspective. Do not sensaionalize
I have to agree that defense deals have to be open and subject to public and expert scrutiny. Else corruption and kick backs occur.
Srinivas is 100% correct. Irresponsible comments by ignoramus are very dangerous and better be avoided in nation's interest.
CORRUPTION IS INDIA"S MAIN ENEMY PLEASE CANCELLED THIS DEAL OF MISSILE AND FOUND MISSILES TO FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION KHATRA UNDERSE HAI UNKO MARO ISHME BAHADDURI HAI