Table of Contents
THE RAFALE DEAL CONTROVERSY
• India in September 2016 inked a direct deal with the French government to purchase 36 new Rafale fighter jets
• The Congress also alleged that the per aircraft pricing of the Rafales as per the UPA – 2 negotiation comes to Rs 526.1 crore as against the Modi government negotiated price of
Rs 1570.8 crore.
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
- The demand that the Government disclose the details and value of the contract for the Rafale aircraft contracted in 2016 is unrealistic. [In keeping with confidentiality requirements, the UPA Government had also expressed its inability to disclose the price of various defence procurements, including in its responses to Parliament Questions].
- The approximate acquisition cost of the Rafale aircraft has already been provided to the Parliament. Provision of exact item-wise cost and other information will reveal, inter alia, details regarding the various customizations and weapons systems specially designed to augment the effectiveness and lethality of the assets, impact our military preparedness and compromise our national security. Such details would also come under the ambit of the security agreement signed in 2008. Thus, in not revealing the item-wise details of the contract, the Government is merely following in letter and spirit the confidentiality provisions of a bilateral IndiaFrance Agreement of 2008 signed by the previous Government.
- The fact is that the approximate acquisition cost of the Rafale aircraft has already been provided to the Parliament.
- The total Rafale Deal Value is Euro 7.88 Bn (Approx Rs. 59,630 Crores)
NOTES
•Rahul Gandhi claims Emmanuel Macron said no secrecy clause in Rafale deal
•The French government, in a statement on Friday, denied Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s claim that President Emmanuel Macron had told him that there was no secrecy clause binding on the Rafale deal and had also said it could be communicated to the public in India.
DISCLOSURE
The defence minister got it wrong; she promised to disclose details that she was not allowed to by the agreement, but the path forward also lies in the same document: temporary security clearances to senior opposition leaders for a confidential briefing as per articles 5 and 6.
SPECIFICATIONS
• These modifications involve shielding every single electronic component of the plane from the several million kilojoules of electromagnetic pulse and energy that nuclear blasts release.
• The problem comes in acknowledging this role publicly.
• On the French side, any acknowledgement of this role would place it in direct violation of the Nuclear Non-proliferation
Treaty, (Article 1) and would run into trouble with the French national legislation in this regard.
IRRESPONSIBLE
• On Friday, asked for cost breakdown by the media in November 2017, Sitharaman promised: “We will give you the figures that you want.”
• She ordered defence secretary Sanjay Mitra, who was sitting beside her, to provide them. Despite repeat enquiries, no figures have been released so far.
WhatsApp