Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Multiple offers may delay trainer craft deal

Aditi Phadnis in New Delhi

India's efforts to acquire an Advanced Jet Trainer appear to be back to square one, with Poland reportedly having written to India in late October that if India was considering the L 159 B aircraft manufactured by Czechoslovakia and the US in collaboration, the Polish offer of an AJT - the M 93, which an advanced version of the Iskra trainer - should also be considered.

Poland is the second vendor to demand that their bid be reconsidered, and the Italians are expected to follow suit.

Under the circumstances, it is unlikely that India will be able to purchase an Advanced Jet Trainer before the financial year is out.

India has been negotiating with British Aerospace for the Hawk trainer for more than 10 years. The price negotiations ended in February this year.

In August, Defence Minister George Fernandes told a meeting of the consultative committee on defence that the proposal to buy an Advanced Jet Trainer - the Hawk - would be cleared in a matter of days rather than weeks.

On September 27, at a ceremony to induct the Sukhoi aircraft into the Indian Air Force, at Pune, Fernandes was asked about an Advanced Jet Trainer and he left it to the Chief of Air Force Staff, Air Marshal Krishnaswamy, to reply.

Krishnaswamy also said it was a matter of weeks before the purchase was through, if not days.

However, on October 1, at a press conference, Krishnaswamy was asked why the purchase was delayed.

His reply was that India got an offer from a Czech-US consortium for the L 159 B and as the parameters proposed by them were similar to India's requirements, this offer was also being evaluated.

Earlier, Italy, Brazil and Russia had also offered jet trainers to India but these offers had been rejected on the grounds that the aircraft did not meet the Air Staff Requirement of the Indian Air Force. An earlier offer of the Czech trainer had elicited a similar response.

However, two things changed this year. On the sidelines of the Confederation of Indian Industry-organised Defexpo 2002 in February, Antonin Jakubse, chairman of the Czech state-owned aircraft facility, Aero Vodochody, said: "We are offering the Indians a joint partnership, technology transfer and joint marketing for the L-159B."

At a press conference, he asserted the Czech Advanced Jet Trainer offer was 25-45 per cent lower than the British Aerospace price for the Hawk.

He also said the Czech training aircraft was backed by Boeing which had brought a 35 per cent stake in Aero Vodochody.

Also, at some time between February and September, an IAF team visited Czechoslovakia, test-flew the aircraft and reported that the L 159 B met 95 per cent of the Air Staff Requirement for the AJT.

The L 159 B also flew at the Farnborough air show in June this year, veterans said, for the first time.

Although there is no doubt that the cost of the two aircraft is competitive - the L 159 B will cost around $12.5 million apiece while the Hawk is said to be pegged at $14 million apiece - there is no clarity on how the government will overcome the danger that the American defence technology represents for India.

The case of supply of spares for the Sea King helicopter, manufactured by the UK under licence from the US, is a case in point.

After the Pokharan tests, the supply was suspended after the sanctions. It was cleared only a month ago. The L 159 B has US avionics and powerplant (engine).

Powered by

ALSO READ:
Monetary & Credit Policy 2002-2003
More Money Headlines