Nirmala Sitharaman: Bought 36 Rafale Jets Instead of 126 as AIF infra didn’t allow more

The country’s second female defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the government chose to procure only 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France, instead of 126 which were being negotiated by the UPA government in 2015. She elaborated while giving an interview to The Indian Express, as infrastructure and other technical requirements of the Indian Air Force (IAF) do not allow for greater induction.

She told the daily, “Every time you induct one squadron (standard fleet of 18 aircraft), there is a requirement for a lot of other paraphernalia to come in. Given a set of parameters, if you quickly want to induct, two is ideal.”

Nirmala Sitharaman said, Air Force Technical details tell, for an emergency based induction it always needs squadron not more than two, that why we settled it for two. Otherwise, we need to spend lot more on creating other paraphernalia for bringing in. She further said, at a time to procure more beyond two squadrons, infrastructure and other things would not have been possible, thats why se chose to settle it for two.”

India’s second female Defence Minister seems to have supported her first press conference held last year in which she had said, she would give the price details of the Rafale deal. She said, she only meant to disclose the basic price of the French aircraft (Rs 670 crore) which had already been mentioned in Parliament.

Also read: IAF chief Birender Singh Dhanoa supports Rafale deal

Sitharaman told The Indian Express,  “I asked the Defence Secretary to give the basic price…that was a conscious decision. I could not have answered so I made him answer.”

When asked question about her reaction when Dassault informs her Ministry that it has chosen Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as an offset partner, Sitharaman said all the procedure will be followed exactly like any other offset discharge.

“Isn’t that a decision of a commercial enterprise to take on their own? I have nothing to do with it, I have not prompted them, not led him, not told them, I have not instructed them, so why am I be worried by what he would tell me? It may be A, B or C, it may be 70 different partners, it may be buying a product, they may be investing, it may be buying a service, so where am I in it? And how can I tell him you can say this and you cannot say that. Whatever he tells, and claims about obligation fulfilled, I have to hear them out,” Sitharaman told Indian Express about Reliance Defence being chosen as Dassault’s offset partner.

Sitharaman dismissed the claim that when asked Russian to not make rifles in Indian with business tycoon Adani group was a violation of the government policy to promote defence manufacturing in the private sector.

“When it is an Inter-governmental agreement for us to have the production done here and I have the existing capacities for producing guns in India, through my OFBs (Ordnance Factory Board), I would prefer to have them produce it through an OFB. Over and above that if they want to produce with anybody, I have no issues,” she said, explaining her decision that all foreign rifle manufacturers would have to choose OFB as the partner.

“It is not a snub, only recently a person has taken charge (as Army Chief). There are some protocol and non-protocol customary things that I am told they do before they get into nitty-gritties and these are all fixed. As a result of that, he has legitimately excused himself,” she added.

She further said, Indian is willing to consider the third defence foundational agreement, BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement) with the USA and had asked the US government for its text. It was discussed during the recent 2+2 meeting where India signed the COMCASA pact with its ally US.

When she was asked about China she said,  “Notwithstanding the spirit of Wuhan, the troops are on alert on the China border. I am hopeful about a military hotline between top headquarters of the two armies being established soon.”

Also read: Rafale deal: Rahul Gandhi unaware of facts, says IAF deputy chief