Dassault Rafale - Eurofighter invited to open their commercial bids to supply 126 fighters to India 2510112

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World Air Force News - India
 
 
Dassault Rafale - Eurofighter invited to open their commercial bids to supply 126 fighters to India.
 
France's Dassault Aviation and the European EADS were informed this week that their representatives would be required to be present when their bids (for the Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon respectively) are opened on November 4, 2011, by a Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC).
     
     
     

The final lap in the marathon to bag the $10.4 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project for supplying 126 fighters for Indian Air Force will begin next week.

It will, however, take two-three weeks to determine the lowest bidder (L-1) after the bids are opened on November 4. "Huge amounts of mathematical and data verification of the lifecycle costs of operating the jets over a 40-year period, with 6,000 hours of flying, as well as cost of ToT (transfer of technology) will have to be done,'' said an official.

Final commercial negotiations with the L-1 vendor will then begin before the contract is ready for signing by early-2012. While the first 18 jets will come from abroad, the remaining 108 will be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics after ToT from end-2016 or early-2017 onwards.