India's longest-serving Defence Minister AK Antony wasn't sure whether negotiations with France to buy 126 fighter jets for the Indian Air Force were on the right track and according to procedure, former Defence Minister and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said in an exclusive interview to India Today.

Parrikar revealed that Antony, in his capacity as defence minister, noted that he should be consulted again after the price negotiations committee had determined which was the cheapest fighter. "It is for the committee to decide which is cheaper. How can or why did the then defence minister want to interfere? It shows that he (Antony) wasn't sure of what was happening and whether the process was being followed", Parrikar said.

While stopping short of alleging any "wrongdoing", Parrikar did say negotiations were handled poorly by the UPA government.

The opposition recently trained its guns on the Modi government, alleging that 36 fighters were bought at an exorbitantly high cost. According to the Congress, the UPA had negotiated a price of Rs 526 crore per fighter, but the Modi government decided to buy fighters at Rs 570 crore.

FIGHTERS CHEAPER

"The deal we have got is "at least 14-15,000 crore" cheaper than what the UPA negotiating", he told India Today.

The Modi-led NDA government scrapped the original deal to buy 126 fighter jets from France. Out of this, 18 were to be bought in a fly-away condition and the rest 108 were to be manufactured in India. After cancelling the deal, the government decided to buy just 36 fighter jets - about two squadron fighters - to make up for the falling number of fighters.

"The UPA wasn't able to finish the negotiations. How can you compare prices", Parrikar told India Today. Negotiations to arrive at the price stalled and went into a "loop" after the Hindustan Aeronautic Limited (HAL), an Indian Defence Public Sector unit, and Dassault Aviaition, the French company that manufacturers the Rafale, failed to decide the man-hours required to make the 108 Rafale jets in India.

Parrikar also told India Today that European Inflation Indices was capped at 3.5 per cent as against a loading of 3.9 per cent on the base price from the date of signing the agreement agreed to by the UPA government. "This alone will save the government Rs 8,000 crore", he said.

Also, unlike the package that the UPA was pursuing, the current deal provides for "maintenance, spare-parts and missiles", Parrikar told India Today. "Under the current agreement, the fighters will be maintained by France for the next seven years. It can be guaranteed that they will maintain a 75 per cent serviceability. It means that at least 27 Rafale fighters will be able for operational duty at any given time."

FIGHTERS HAVE MORE FEATURES

Defence Ministry sources separately told India Today that France had agreed to make as many as "13 India Specific Enhancements" to the 36 fighters being acquired by IAF. These include enhanced radar systems that allow the aircraft to look deeper into enemy territory, "Helmet Mounted Display" allowing pilots more operational flexibility and better missile systems. The fighters now come with beyond-visual-range missiles like Meteor, the MICA-RF and the MICA-IF, which have a range of 150 km, 80 km and 60 km respectively.