The M-MRCA In Numbers

As the M-MRCA fighter competition winds down, I thought it would be nice to put it down in numbers. Do comment with your additions.

6: The number of contending aircraft.

8: The number of competing nations.

126: The number of aircraft the Indian government officially says it wants to buy.

200-220: The number that sundry analysts believe will be the the “real” order size.

$9,500,000,000: The number of dollars (at the current exchange rate) the Indian government has committed to the deal.

$4,750,000,000: The number of dollars (at the current exchange rate) the winning contender will need to plough back into India as offsets.

18: The number of aircraft that will be manufactured by the winning bidder.

108: The number of aircraft that will be cookie-cut under license by HAL at a spanking new facility.

0: What HAL has needed to do to be the license partner in the MMRCA.

3: The number of years it took the government to decide that a competition made more sense than an IAF-recommended purchase of more Mirage-2000s.

4: The number if IAF Air Marshals who openly rue that decision to this day.

4: The number of companies that received the Indian RFI in 2004 (Dassault, Lockheed-Martin, RAC-MiG, Saab).

2: The number of companies that elbowed their way into the competition shortly thereafter (Boeing, Eurofighter).

2 / 1 / 6 / 1 / 0 / 5: The number of air forces that use fly the F/A-18 Super Hornet / Rafale / Typhoon / F-16 Block 60 / MiG-35 / Gripen.

2: The number of contending aircraft with operational AESA radars.

4: The number of contending aircraft that promise to deliver AESA radars better than the American ones.

2: The number of vendors who explicitly state that they will release all avionics/sensor source codes to the IAF as part of any deal.

46: The number of times in 2006-07 that the then IAF chief Shashindra Pal Tyagi was quoted to have said “buying fighters is not like buying vegetables in a market”.

242: The number of times Defence Minister AK Antony, in response to questions about the delayed RFP, nodded genially and said, “It is in process”.

3: The number of years it took for the government to send out an RFP after receiving information about potential contenders.

211: The number of pages in the RFP that was released in August 2007.

4: The number of defence journalists who claimed to have a copy of the RFP on the day it was released.

0: The number of defence journalists who actually had a copy of the RFP on the day it was released.

(Still counting): The number of times sundry officials from the IAF and MoD have pointed to “front-runners” in the competition.

4: The number of times competing countries have urged abandonment of the tender in favour of a separate exclusive deal. (– Saurabh Joshi)

10: The number (on a scale of ten) that depicts just how badly IAF chief Pradeep Naik wants the MMRCA contract to be signed before he retires in July this year.

0: The number (on a scale of ten) that depicts the chances of that actually happening.

0: The optimism co-efficient of vendors that the IAF chief’s word holds any more sway.

<1: The chances on a scale of 10 of the deal being concluded this calendar year.

22: The number of times the current IAF chief has expressed his pride over the evaluation process, and said he will patent it.

186: The number of times this blog has posted about the competition. Ok, now 187.

~421: The number of misleading leaks, rumours and patent falsehoods that have been deliberately put out by certain officers in the IAF and MoD acquisition wing.

8: The number of times the IAF and MoD have contradicted each other over aspects of the selection process.

112: The number of times the European competitors have described the Americans as “aggressive”.

643: The number of test points evaluated on the six aircaft during field trials.

2: The number of years it took for field trials to commence after RFPs had been issued.

7: The number of times Lockheed-Martin took pot shots at the Gripen.

7: The number of times Gripen took pot shots at Lockheed-Martin.

2: The number of fantasy eliminations – Gripen and Rafale – that turned out to be false.

1: The number of times commercial bids have been revised.

10: Chances on a scale of ten that commercial bids will be required to be extended.

11,441: The number of reports about the MMRCA in the mainstream Indian media.

11,441: The number of reports about the MMRCA in the mainstream Indian media that were based largely on speculation.

Do feel free to add your own.