M-MRCA project: Govt firm on HAL as lead integrator

The Ministry's stand in this regard has come after French firm Dassault, which has bagged the IAF deal for supplying 126 M-MRCA, asked it to define the role of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in the project.

As per the tender, first 18 of the 126 aircraft are to be supplied by Rafale from its facilities and the rest 108 are to be license produced and integrated by the HAL at its facilities here.

If any company other than HAL is designated as the integrator, it would be deviation from the tender issued for the project and as per the Defence Procurement Procedure, it will have to be approved by the Defence Acquisition Council, Defence Ministry sources said.

In view of this, the Ministry has decided that it will stick to the clauses of the tender issued in 2007, they said.

The Ministry is expected to convey its decision on the issue to the company during the negotiations on the deal beginning next week.

The French company had told the Ministry that if it is given the overall responsibility for the project, it should be given the freedom to decide on the proportion of work to be done by HAL and private companies in the programme

If the Government had given a major role to the French firm in producing the aircraft in the country, it would have assigned a major share of work to an Indian defence company.

Soon after Dassault was declared as the lowest bidder for the MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) deal piping EAD's Eurofighter, it signed a MoU with a Reliance Industries Ltd. Company for working together in the security sector.

It is currently negotiating the deal with the Defence Ministry and the IAF.