Rafale deal: Dassault aviation backs government claims, says 'freely choose to partner with Reliance'

A day after a French website reported that Dassault Aviation agreed to enter into a joint venture with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as it was presented as a 'trade-off' if the defence major were to bag the 36 Rafale jet deal, Dassault Aviation issued a clarification stating that it freely chose to make a partnership with India's Reliance Group.

In its defence, Dassault Aviation clarified that it freely chose to make a partnership with India’s Reliance Group.

"This joint-venture, Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd (DRAL), was created February 10, 2017. Other partnerships have been signed with other companies such as BTSL, DEFSYS, Kinetic, Mahindra, Maini, SAMTEL,... Other negotiations are ongoing with a hundred-odd other potential partners", it added.

Here's the full press statement:

Rafale contract for India: clarifications by Dassault Aviation
2018/10/10 Group
 

Within the framework of the September 2016 Inter-Government Agreement between France and India, Dassault Aviation has sold 36 Rafale aircraft to India. In compliance with the Indian regulations (Defence Procurement Procedure) and as frequent with such a contract, Dassault Aviation has committed to offsets in India worth 50% of the value of the purchase.

In order to deliver some of these offsets, Dassault Aviation has decided to create a joint venture. Dassault Aviation has freely chosen to make a partnership with India’s Reliance Group. This joint-venture, Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd (DRAL), was created February 10, 2017.

Other partnerships have been signed with other companies such as BTSL, DEFSYS, Kinetic, Mahindra, Maini, SAMTEL,… Other negotiations are ongoing with hundred-odd other potential partners.

In compliance with French regulations, Chief Operating Officer Loïk Segalen informed, May 11, 2017, the Central Works Council of the creation of the DRAL joint-venture in order to fulfill some of the offsets commitment.

The cornerstone for the DRAL plant in Nagpur (Maharashtra) was laid October 27, 2017. This plant will manufacture parts for Falcon 2000 business jets and, in a second step, parts for Rafale aircraft.

An initial team of Indian managers has been trained for six months to our manufacturing processes in our plant in Biarritz (France). The first Indian skilled workers have also benefited from an intensive training in our manufacturing techniques in France.

The first Falcon 2000 parts will be delivered by end 2018.

Here's the screen grab of the same:

Read: Rafale Deal: SC Asks Centre To Provide Details Of Decision Making Process In Sealed Cover

Earlier on Wednesday, Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao escalate the attack on the Narendra Modi-led government over the Rafale deal and informed that Congress President Rahul Gandhi will meet the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) employees in Bengaluru on October 13.

Karnataka's Congress President Dinesh Gundu Rao spoke about the details of Rahul Gandhi's visit to the state. He told media,

"Rahul ji will be coming here, details are being worked out and we will inform later as to what the exact programme will be. That (Rahul's meet with HAL employees) also we'll see. There are some discussions going on. Let us see how that happens."

The RAFALE deal:

The Rafale deal is a defence agreement signed between the governments of India and France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircrafts in a fly-away condition as a part of the upgrading process of Indian Air Force equipment.