So we live in hope31 Jan 2012 21:50
Not a done deal quite yet, the Indians may be trying for a better price for Typhoon and remember that the UAE had a deal for the Rafale, but the French rules and regulations proved to be too big a barrier and they are now talking to Eurofighter about a new deal for Typhoon.
"However, India's Defence Minister A.K. Antony said earlier no deal would be signed before the end of March.
'It is a long process. The file has not come to my table,' Antony said, adding that the finance ministry and then a cabinet panel headed by the prime minister had to look at any agreement.
A French source close to the matter said the decision to enter fresh negotiations with lowest-bidder Dassault was a step forward but that no deal had been signed.
Defence analysts said the deal still needed to get through a potentially complex final stage of negotiations in which France's willingness to transfer know-how would be tested to the full.
LONG WAY TO GO
'This is not the end of the road by any stretch of the imagination. This is only the beginning of a second stage of this campaign,' said veteran defence analyst Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners brokerage in London.
James Hardy, Asia Pacific specialist at IHS Jane's Defence Weekly said that wrangling over the deal could go on for years.
'Financial pressures on India's government could seriously complicate the chances of this being signed any time soon, in particular the depreciation of the rupee,' he said. 'That and the standard contractual wrangling that occurs during Indian procurement deals could cause delays stretching to years.' "
Suck it and see I suppose.
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