SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK
IAF’s mega $20 billion Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) project might see the issue as an important milestone that will be achieved when the Request for Proposal (RFP) will be issued by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in late 2023. Dassault Rafale has offered its Rafale F4-1 standard to India and might be seen in the driver seat due to past orders of 36 Rafale F3R fighter jets that it got from India but the Eurofighter consortium bid might stage an upset.
Eurofighter Tranche 5 combat aircraft is what will be offered by the Eurofighter consortium when IAF issues RFP and has plans to undercut Rafale F4-1 offer by Dassault in terms of fly-away cost which could put India and Dassault in a peculiar situation that might force Dassault to undercut its price more.
idrw.org has been told by Industrial sources that the Eurofighter consortium bid will see near 30% less than Dassault which might kick start a bidding war in India if the terms and conditions of the MRFA remain the same as the now canceled tender of the MRCA. Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter were the only two combat aircraft that had cleared Technical rounds before price bids were opened.
Eurofighter consortium is quite confident that it will clear the technical bid but expects some challenges from the F-15EX Eagle II bid by Boeing but is expecting that there will be only the last two standing at the end and the winner will be decided by the cost of each aircraft that will be made in India rather than Political considerations that might influence the decision.
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