While not making any noise about India's decision to prefer the French Rafale
fighter over Eurofighter Typhoon, Germany is still trying to negotiate
with India for the over $10 billion medium-range multi-role combat
aircraft (MMRCA) deal. Germany is one of the key nations behind the
European consortium which has designed the Typhoon.
The deputy chief of the ruling CDU-led coalition's parliamentary committee in Bundestag (lower house of Parliament) for foreign and defence affairs, Andreas Schockenhoff, told TOI on Wednesday that the last word had not yet been heard on the MMRCA deal.
India and France are currently having "exclusive" talks over pricing and other issues for the 126-aircraft deal and the defence ministry maintains that there is no question of reviewing the decision to enter into negotiations with Rafale manufacturer Dassault Aviation.
"There have been discussions between German and Indian officials and I can say that this is not a closed book yet,'' said Schockenoff, a close aide of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is in India on a four-day visit.
"As far as I know, there is not yet a commercial order committed by the Indian government. The Eurofighter manufacturers are working again on the offer and this is a subject of negotiations between the European consortium and the Indian government,'' he added.
Schockenhoff met senior defence ministry officials, including minister of state for defence Pallam Raju, but said he had not raised the issue during his visit to India.
Interestingly, the comments by Schockenhoff come close on the heels of remarks by a Russian government spokesperson who said India was likely to refloat the tender as negotiations between India and France had failed. Russia's MiG-35 fighter jet too was part of the bid but lost in the preliminary stages.
Unlike as in the UK, another country associated with the Eurofighter where the reaction to India's decision bordered on the wild, the initial reaction in Germany was restrained. The government did say though that exclusive talks don't necessarily lead to actual sale.
The Eurofighter was said to have lost out to Rafale because of cost and expensive maintenance issues and also because of Rafale's similarities to the French Mirage 2000 fighters being used by the IAF.
The deputy chief of the ruling CDU-led coalition's parliamentary committee in Bundestag (lower house of Parliament) for foreign and defence affairs, Andreas Schockenhoff, told TOI on Wednesday that the last word had not yet been heard on the MMRCA deal.
India and France are currently having "exclusive" talks over pricing and other issues for the 126-aircraft deal and the defence ministry maintains that there is no question of reviewing the decision to enter into negotiations with Rafale manufacturer Dassault Aviation.
"There have been discussions between German and Indian officials and I can say that this is not a closed book yet,'' said Schockenoff, a close aide of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is in India on a four-day visit.
"As far as I know, there is not yet a commercial order committed by the Indian government. The Eurofighter manufacturers are working again on the offer and this is a subject of negotiations between the European consortium and the Indian government,'' he added.
Schockenhoff met senior defence ministry officials, including minister of state for defence Pallam Raju, but said he had not raised the issue during his visit to India.
Interestingly, the comments by Schockenhoff come close on the heels of remarks by a Russian government spokesperson who said India was likely to refloat the tender as negotiations between India and France had failed. Russia's MiG-35 fighter jet too was part of the bid but lost in the preliminary stages.
Unlike as in the UK, another country associated with the Eurofighter where the reaction to India's decision bordered on the wild, the initial reaction in Germany was restrained. The government did say though that exclusive talks don't necessarily lead to actual sale.
The Eurofighter was said to have lost out to Rafale because of cost and expensive maintenance issues and also because of Rafale's similarities to the French Mirage 2000 fighters being used by the IAF.
Times of India
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