The M-MRCA In Numbers

As the M-MRCA fighter competition winds down, I thought it would be nice to put it down in numbers. Do comment with your additions.

6: The number of contending aircraft.

8: The number of competing nations.
126: The number of aircraft the Indian government officially says it wants to buy.
200-220: The number that sundry analysts believe will be the the “real” order size.
$9,500,000,000: The number of dollars (at the current exchange rate) the Indian government has committed to the deal.
$4,750,000,000: The number of dollars (at the current exchange rate) the winning contender will need to plough back into India as offsets.
18: The number of aircraft that will be manufactured by the winning bidder.
108: The number of aircraft that will be cookie-cut under license by HAL at a spanking new facility.

0: What HAL has needed to do to be the license partner in the MMRCA.

3: The number of years it took the government to decide that a competition made more sense than an IAF-recommended purchase of more Mirage-2000s.

4: The number if IAF Air Marshals who openly rue that decision to this day.

4: The number of companies that received the Indian RFI in 2004 (Dassault, Lockheed-Martin, RAC-MiG, Saab).

2: The number of companies that elbowed their way into the competition shortly thereafter (Boeing, Eurofighter).
2 / 1 / 6 / 1 / 0 / 5: The number of air forces that use fly the F/A-18 Super Hornet / Rafale / Typhoon / F-16 Block 60 / MiG-35 / Gripen.
2: The number of contending aircraft with operational AESA radars.

4: The number of contending aircraft that promise to deliver AESA radars better than the American ones.

2: The number of vendors who explicitly state that they will release all avionics/sensor source codes to the IAF as part of any deal.

46: The number of times in 2006-07 that the then IAF chief Shashindra Pal Tyagi was quoted to have said “buying fighters is not like buying vegetables in a market”.

242: The number of times Defence Minister AK Antony, in response to questions about the delayed RFP, nodded genially and said, “It is in process”.

3: The number of years it took for the government to send out an RFP after receiving information about potential contenders.

211: The number of pages in the RFP that was released in August 2007.

4: The number of defence journalists who claimed to have a copy of the RFP on the day it was released.

0: The number of defence journalists who actually had a copy of the RFP on the day it was released.

(Still counting): The number of times sundry officials from the IAF and MoD have pointed to “front-runners” in the competition.

4: The number of times competing countries have urged abandonment of the tender in favour of a separate exclusive deal. (– Saurabh Joshi)

10: The number (on a scale of ten) that depicts just how badly IAF chief Pradeep Naik wants the MMRCA contract to be signed before he retires in July this year.

0: The number (on a scale of ten) that depicts the chances of that actually happening.

0: The optimism co-efficient of vendors that the IAF chief’s word holds any more sway.

<1: The chances on a scale of 10 of the deal being concluded this calendar year.

22: The number of times the current IAF chief has expressed his pride over the evaluation process, and said he will patent it.

186: The number of times this blog has posted about the competition. Ok, now 187.

~421: The number of misleading leaks, rumours and patent falsehoods that have been deliberately put out by certain officers in the IAF and MoD acquisition wing.

8: The number of times the IAF and MoD have contradicted each other over aspects of the selection process.

112: The number of times the European competitors have described the Americans as “aggressive”.

643: The number of test points evaluated on the six aircaft during field trials.

2: The number of years it took for field trials to commence after RFPs had been issued.

7: The number of times Lockheed-Martin took pot shots at the Gripen.

7: The number of times Gripen took pot shots at Lockheed-Martin.

2: The number of fantasy eliminations – Gripen and Rafale – that turned out to be false.

1: The number of times commercial bids have been revised.

10: Chances on a scale of ten that commercial bids will be required to be extended.

11,441: The number of reports about the MMRCA in the mainstream Indian media.

11,441: The number of reports about the MMRCA in the mainstream Indian media that were based largely on speculation.

Do feel free to add your own.

13 thoughts on “The M-MRCA In Numbers”

  1. Hi Shiv,
    I feel, we may never see the light of the day with MRCA. GOI may just land up canceling it and buy into F35 as lot of Fanboys want.

    We may land up to be the only Airforce that will operate 3, 5th generation aircraft types – PAKFA, AMCA & F35.

    Regards

  2. Nice one!! very interesting read.
    guess no of polls? don't have answer, i know atleast 6 polls that i was part of that i can recollect.

  3. Nice Article.But MMRCA shouldnt be cancelled. F-35s could play a role in the future for the Navy as well. How will they replace so many Jalopies like the Mig-21s and 27s ? It has to be a combination of SU-30MKI, MMRCA and LCA.

  4. 6 is the number of contending firm's supposed by you to be having recent brush with skulduggery.

    I think the Mig, Gripen and if possible the Rafale shall be exempted from such charges, otherwise we may have to purchase the UFOs from the aliens to replace the Mig-21s at the exorbitant prices. Lol…

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