NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force has once again kicked off the over $2billion procurement project for six desperately-needed mid-air refuellingaircraft to extend the strategic reach of its fighters and bombers after itwas cancelled twice over the last decade due to cost and other issues.
The IAF on Thursday issued the RFI (request for Information) for the sixflight refuelling aircraft or tankers and associated equipment. The formaltender or RFP (request for proposal) will be floated after the responses tothe RFI are submitted by March 30.
After inducting six Russian-origin Ilyushin-78 mid-air refuelling aircraftin 2003-2004, the IAF had first taken up the case for the acquisition ofsix additional tankers in 2006. The two-engine Airbuslink> A-330 MRTT (mid-airrefuelling aircraft) was twice selected over the four-engine Russian IL-78in the technical and commercial evaluation.
But both times, issues like the life cycle cost (LCC) methodology used inarriving at the lowest bidder (L-1) as well as pending CBI cases had led tothe tenders being scrapped. Interestingly, this time the RFI specifies thatthe IAF wants twin-engine aircraft, with a two-man crew to ensure fuelefficiency and lower maintenance costs, say sources.
This effectively rules out the four-engine IL-78s, leaving the contest opento primarily the Airbus A-330 MRTT and Boeinglink> KC-46A Pegasus. The IAFis ready to even induct second-hand refuelling aircraft if they haveadequate operational life left. “Israel will be the main contender forsupplying such pre-owned aircraft,” said a source.
The IAF urgently needs the six new refuelling aircraft to double the strikerange of its fighters and bombers. While the six IL-78s are based at Agrato support operations against Pakistan, the six new tankers are meant forPanagarh in West Bengal link> withan eye firmly on China.
Panagarh, where the six new C-130J “Super Hercules” tactical airliftaircraft have already been based after the first six at the Hindon airbaseon the outskirts of New Delhi, is also going to be the headquarters of thenew 17 Mountain Strike Corps being progressively raised by the Army.
The 17 Corps, with two new high-altitude infantry divisions as well asarmoured, artillery, air defence, engineer brigades spread from Ladakhto ArunachalPradesh link>, will be fullyformed with 90,274 soldiers at a cost Rs 64,678 crore by 2021, as earlierreported by TOI.
But the first RFP for the refuelling aircraft in 2006 was scrapped in 2010because the finance ministry expressed “reservations relating to thecompetitiveness of the bids and the reasonableness of the price” of theA-330 MRTT.
In the second RFP floated in 2010, both A-330 MRTT and IL-78 cleared theextensive field trials. In the commercial evaluation thereafter, eventhough the IL-78 was cheaper in the off-the-shelf price, the A-330 MRTTemerged as the L-1 under the new LCC system. But questions were raised onthe L-1 determination.
The LCC basically identifies the “total cost of ownership” of a particularequipment or aircraft over its entire operational life. This time the IAFis keeping its fingers crossed. Times of India