Mon, Apr 14, 2003
Contract For Advanced Fighter Trainer Long Time Coming
It's been a long, long time coming, but defense
analysts in India say New Delhi will sign a deal to buy advanced
military trainers aimed at better orienting its air force to the
vagaries of jet-propelled flight and ending a deadly string of
aircraft losses. The purchase will reportedly be made before the
end of 2003.
Done Deal?
"Yes, it will happen this year. The decision has been taken. The
finance ministry is not going to sit over it," Defense Minister
George Fernandes said on Saturday.
The planned Indian jet trainer order is one of the
longest-running sagas ever in the global arms industry. Since 1985,
India has been looking for an advanced jet trainer as a tool for
instructing new pilots on how to to fly the country's fighter jets
like the Russian Sukhoi 30 and French Dassault Mirage 2000. The
problem is that India has a wide range of warplane types in its
arsenal - a problem that has, in some cases, turned deadly.
Britain has been pressing New Delhi to buy 66 Hawk training and
attack jets from BAE Systems in a deal estimated to be worth $1.6
billion. The
Czech government also wants in, hoping to sell New
Delhi its L-159B trainer made by state-run Aero Vodochody, in which
Boeing Co. has a 35 percent stake.
Trying To Stem Huge Losses
The Indian Air Force's large fleet of Russian-made
MiG aircraft has a safety record that even Defense Ministry workers
call embarrassing. At least 170 of the supersonic MiG fighters have
been lost in accidents over the past 10 years. India Air Force
officers say one reason for the crashes is that the pilots simply
don't have adequate training. "Everybody should be concerned about
the MiG incidents," Fernandes said.
Just this month, five people were killed on the ground and
several injured in two separate MiG crashes in northern India. The
former Soviet Union was India's main defence supplier during the
Cold War, partly because New Delhi viewed the Soviet warplanes as
both robust and affordable.
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