[Quote US President Barack Obama had taken this up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to India and followed it up with a letter highlighting this contract as being important to his administration. Unquote
In fact, this purported deal was showcased as the most important achievement by the American side then. Now it comes to naught!] http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/newdelhi/India-says-no-to-US-fighter-planes/Article1-690522.aspx <http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/newdelhi/India-says-no-to-US-fighter-planes/Article1-690522.aspx> *Pramit Pal Chaudhuri<http://www.hindustantimes.com/Search/search.aspx?q=Pramit%20Pal%20Chaudhuri>, Hindustan Times* Email Author<[email protected]?Subject=India%20says%20no%20to%20US%20fighter%20planes> New Delhi, April 28, 2011 First Published: 01:18 IST(28/4/2011) Last Updated: 01:21 IST(28/4/2011) India says no to US fighter planes India has told the United States that it will not be buying American for its $10-billion fighter aircraft deal. This more or less leaves the Eurofighter Typhoon and the French Rafale as the only remaining contenders for the deal. The two US contenders, Boeing and Lockheed, received formal letters from the Indian Ministry of Defence as to why their respective aircraft, the F/A-18 Superhornet and the F-16 Superviper, did not fulfil the technical requirements of Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft contract, said US and Indian sources. Defence Minister AK Antony has been signaling privately for weeks that the Indian Air Force and his ministry would go for one of the European fighters. The Russian contender, the MiG 30, along with the Swedish Gripen received similar notes as the US firms. The Indian notification will come as a major shock to bilateral relations. Washington had seen such a purchase, the first time India would be buying a US warplane, as a sign of India's interest in upgrading strategic relations. Indian officials were quick to say that Indo-US relations were greater than a single arms purchase. But given that it follows on US nuclear reactor purchases being bogged down in liability issues, the decision will strengthen Indo-skeptics in Washington. New Delhi will hide behind technical reasons, the two European fighters are generally seen as aerodynamically superior if not necessarily better fighting platforms. II. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/forget-all-this/782696/ *Your firms are out of fighter contract fray, India to US* *Manu Pubby <http://www.indianexpress.com/columnist/manu_pubby/> , PranabDhalSamanta<http://www.indianexpress.com/columnist/pranabdhalsamanta/> Thu Apr 28 2011, 02:07 hrsNew Delhi: Taking a decision based on technical evaluation, the government has told the United States that its two companies bidding for the $10-billion medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contract are now out of the fray. Sources said only two of the six companies will be called in tomorrow to extend their commercial bids. This decision was prompted by the fact that commercial bids for all six players were to expire by the end of this month. The government had the choice of asking all six to extend their commercial bids and keep the suspense alive. But given the deep interest being shown by the political leaderships of the countries behind the bidders, the government possibly thought it appropriate not to prolong the decision-making process. US President Barack Obama had taken this up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to India and followed it up with a letter highlighting this contract as being important to his administration. With two players — Lockheed Martin and Boeing — in the fray, US authorities were extremely hopeful and had been stepping up political pressure. This was also the key issue brought up at the meeting of the Indo-US Defence Policy Group headed by the Defence Secretary on the Indian side. It is learnt that the two US contenders — the F-16IN Super Viper and the F/A-18 Super Hornet — did not match up in technical trials. In fact, sources indicated that only the French Rafale and Eurofighter were the two to have made it to the next round and have been invited to extend their commercial bids for further negotiations. The other two contenders were the Russian MiG-35 and the Swedish Gripen. The Defence Ministry is committed to complete the entire negotiation process by March next. Going by that deadline, any decision based on the technical evaluation process would have had to be taken before the expiry of the commercial bids. * <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2711569/posts> -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
