Will the number of MMRCA contenders come down before price negotiations?

Will there be a downselect from the six contenders for the 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) before the commercial bids are opened? There is some talk making the rounds that the Ministry of Defence may be “comfortable” taking two or three of the aerospace majors to the final stages of the over $10 billion bid.

The six in the long-drawn race are—Lockheed Martin’s F-16IN Super Viper and Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet from the United States, Russia’s Mikoyan MiG-35, France’s Dassault Rafale, Sweden’s Saab Gripen and the EADS Eurofighter Typhoon.

Boeing senior officials—Christopher M. Chadwick, President, Boeing Military Aircraft and Christopher Murray, International Business Development, Defense, Space and Security, in an informal chat with the media confirmed that they too had heard about a probable “down-sizing”. “We hope that we are in the down-select, if that happens, though I really do not know what legal issues it may entail,” said Murray.

Chadwick said that a fighter aircraft deal in any country is always “iconic” and Boeing’s focus has been to win the huge deal. “The request for proposal by the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been clear and all the six contenders have been compliant in this aspect.” The two factors which would tilt in favour of any of the six would be – the price and political considerations, though the Defence Minister A.K. Antony has categorically stated that there will not be any kind of political interference.

Around the same time, the relations between India and the US are strengthening and Boeing officials reiterated that the company’s commitment was for the long-term.