France to help upgrade Indian war planes

[Sourav]

India to invite France to upgrade war planes: defence officials



Defence officials in New Delhi confirmed Thursday that French firms will be invited to upgrade India's fleet of Mirage fighters in a contract worth up to 1.5 billion euros.

The announcement of a reserved tender is expected to be made on Friday, during a state visit to India by President Nicolas Sarkozy, officials said.

"The project involves the (upgrade) of engines, avionics and navigation systems," a defence official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"In principle we accept the costs involved."

The Indian Air Force has 51 Mirage-2000 war planes, which are made by Dassault with electronics from Thales. A consortium including Thales and Dassault has been facing stiff competition for an upgrade contract from Israel.

France was India's second largest arms supplier, after Russia, until 2005 when it slipped behind Israel, which is now signed up to sell AWACS surveillance planes, drones, missiles and artillery systems to the South Asian nuclear-armed nation.

The upgrade contract would be a major a boost for French efforts to remain a primary player in the burgeoning Indian defence market, where Paris has been beset by problems in recent months.

India last month cancelled a 600-million-dollar deal to buy 197 military helicopters from the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company unit Eurocopter.

The signing of the deal was to be one of the highlights of Sarkozy's visit. Instead, he is likely to push Eurocopter's case ahead of a fresh tender process that will give US firm Bell another stab at the contract.

India's decision in 2006 to buy six Franco-Spanish Scorpene submarines worth three billion dollars has also run into trouble. An Indian court has ordered police to complete a probe into allegations that 100 million dollars in bribes were paid.

New Delhi, the biggest weapons buyer among emerging nations, is expected to splurge 30 billion dollars between 2007 and 2012.

The Indian defence ministry official said that during Sarkozy's visit, New Delhi and Paris will also firm up dates for joint military exercises and sign a bilateral accord on the "sharing of classified information."