[Caregrasy]

The French connection
France, in many ways, appears to be an extension of India (except the latter’s apathy towards its culture and past). The two have their distrust for market; the two adopt economic reforms only when all other options are exhausted; the two have always looked for a multi-polar world, or at least an alternative to American unilateralism (in India it is called Non-Aligned Movement, and in France it’s DeGaullism); the two are vibrant democracies to the extent that both at times entertain mindless agitations, protests and strikes at the cost of good governance and orderliness. So, when India recently decided to seal its largest ever defence deal with French firm Dassault for 126 Rafale fighters, the issue was never how. It was why so late? Why did the two democracies, with so many common challenges and opportunities, take so long to come together?


While India boarded a wrong bus in 1947 to lose the first 40-odd years of its Independence only to wake up from its deep, socialist slumber in the early 1990s, the Le Figaro journalist has an interesting take on France. “Before Jacques Chirac, France was obsessed with Africa. And when Chirac came to power, he reached out to China. So, for those before Chirac, India was too far to get any attention. And for Chirac it was too close to be seen,” he says with a mischievous smile. On a more serious note, he believes, it was Chirac who brought the two nations closer, a process taken forward in a big way by Sarkozy. The Rafale deal, he believes, will take the relationship further as never before.


The top authorities at Dassault Aviation hold similar optimism, though they appear a bit apprehensive about allegations of irregularities in the deal. The controversy arose because the Defence Ministry used “life cycle costs” to select the finalist. The ministry — taking a lesson from the Russian MiG experience where a cheap upfront price that seemed initially attractive led to enormous operating costs — decided the cheapest aircraft would be the one that worked out to be the cheapest over the aircraft’s 40-year life cycle, and not the one with the lowest upfront cost.


Eric Trappier, Executive Vice-President, Dassault Aviation, however, is confident that the deal won’t get derailed. “Now that India’s decision to go for Rafale has been announced, attempts will be made by some vested elements to create confusion in the minds of the Indian leadership and public. But we have full faith in India. Also, what will keep us in good stead, apart from competitive pricing, is our commitment to not just provide the aircraft but also ensure the transfer of technology to India,” he says. As per the plan, 18 Rafale jets are to be constructed at Dassault plants in France and the remaining 108 will be made in India.


What Trappier didn’t mention was the Indian Air Force’s long association with Dassault through its Mirage-2000 fighters acquired way back in 1984-85, and how the aircraft proved its superiority during the 1999 Kargil war when the small enemy bunkers at high altitude could not be successfully targeted by MiG fighters. What also went in Rafale’s favour was the fact that its main competitor, Eurofighter Typhoon, was built by a four-nation consortium of Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, each with different foreign policies. Indian officials, therefore, had their doubts about their reliability as a single supplier: In case of war, German law, for instance, prohibits deliveries of weapons and spares, Italian law demands an embargo, and Spanish legislation remains vague.


France, in contrast, has a clean record. During the Kargil war, it immediately provided India the necessary parts of Mirage. This, along with the equally speedy Israeli supplies of laser-guided bombs, helped India win the war without any hiccup. Just imagine what the US and Britain would have done in a similar situation: In all probability, they would have suspended all military supplies to prove their credentials as honest brokers for peace!


Also, what could have gone in Dassault’s favour, though not intentionally, is the inherent goodwill the country and its leadership have for France for whole-heartedly supporting India after the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests amid complete Western censure on the issue.


No doubt, the deal has come as a shot in the arm for the Sarkozy Government which has been staring without much success at the European debt crisis, threatening to engulf France anytime in future. It has also provided the much-needed lifeline to the Rafale jet which for decades has been the white elephant of French arms manufacturing and criticised for being “too sophisticated” for export. So much so that a few months ago, French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet had threatened to pull the plug off in 2021 if Dassault failed to find a buyer for Rafale.


With Dassault getting a fresh lease of life, New Delhi would now expect France to stand by its commitment for a “complete” civil nuclear partnership with India. More intimate alliances in the nuclear, military and intelligence fields would allow India to spread its influence in western Africa, known as France’s backyard. Delhi should use the French connection to curb the growing Chinese presence in Africa.


Now with allegations of irregularities in the Rafale deal, Defence Minister AK Antony has ordered a departmental probe. This, however, should not become the excuse to derail the entire deal. After all, one should never forget the fact that arms trade is a dirty business and often a ‘psywar’ is waged to create suspicions in the minds of the buyer about rival competitors. This has happened before, more recently in the early 1990s when the Narasimha Rao Government wanted to procure jet trainers for the armed forces, resulting in an inordinate delay in signing the final contract.


History often repeats itself and a similar psywar seems to have started again. The only way out is to fast-track the probe and then, if nothing wrong is found in the deal, press ahead with the negotiations with Dassault and sign the final contract quickly. The longer the delay, the dirtier will be the war. Err... psywar.