While the Supreme Court is all set to examine the claim of the Central government of its compliance with the laid down procedure for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft, it has justified its action citing a growing enemy air threat from our adversaries inducting modern aircraft and upgrading their older versions (Page 1, “Rafale deal not done in a hurry: Centre”, November 13). This logic is strange to even common sense. If indeed our adversaries’ increased fire power was posing a threat to our security, it would have been more logical for any responsible government to take necessary measures to strengthen its air power by augmenting its depleting squadrons instead of cancelling on-going negotiations for acquiring as many as 126 such aircraft, most of which were to be assembled in India. Now, the Indian Air Force is said to be preparing a fresh request for over 100 fighters. Given the complex process involved for such an acquisition, it is anybody’s guess when exactly these to-be-acquired aircraft would become a part of the IAF’s fleet. Thus, by its own admission, the present government has compromised our national security by settling for a lower number of aircraft.
Interestingly, while both the Finance and the Defence Ministers have claimed the price negotiated by the present government is less than what was negotiated by the UPA government, experts have rubbished this claim by saying that the cost of a smaller number of Rafales is 40% more than Dassault’s earlier offer. One has to now await the Supreme Court’s verdict on the most controversial defence deal in post-independent India.
S.K. Choudhury,
Bengaluru
