MMRCA: back to square one?

摘要

Over a decade after the first requests for information were sent out, India's $12bn MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) fighter contest is now officially dead. The 'must-win' prize of a requirement for 126 fighters that was bitterly contested, with Rafale scooping the prize in 2012 is now axed. France's Dassault, however, does not go home empty handed, having secured an order for 36 directly from India's Prime Minister, who short-circuited the MoD and HAL bureaucracy - to at least get some combat aircraft into service. However, this does still leave a shortfall of 90 aircraft and this may get more acute in the future for India's air force, which faces an ageing fleet and its two main regional competitors, China and Pakistan, both modernising their front-line capabilities. In particular, the qualitative margin that India enjoyed over China is (like other nations) being eroded as the PLAAF induct J-10s, J-11s and, conceivably in the future, J-20 stealth fighters. While India has a partnering agreement with Russia on its PAK-FA stealth fighter - that project too seems to have hit snags - with the IAF expressing concerns about the quality of Sukhoi's fighter. Fighter manufacturers around the world, therefore, will be watching New Delhi's next move with great interest Will there be a MMRCA Ⅱ? (tag-line: 'This time its personal'). Will the 'Make it in India' stipulations that may have proved the sticking point in the Rafale negotiations return? Will India open the contest again to all-comers? Time is now ticking fast One thing seems obvious. If there really is a desperate air power strategic gap in front-line fighters that India is facing - it cannot afford to wait another decade or so for a re-run of the tortured MMRCA competition. The IAF can either have new fighters in service quickly or it can have local production of Western/Russian designs - but it cannot have both simultaneously.