The Indian Defense Minister AK Antony, after inaugurating the DefExpo in New Delhi today, decided to go walkabout.

Antony being instructed by Eurofighter Test pilot, Craig Penrice.

And our man seems to be no less enthused by fighter aircraft than the average guy. Turns out, he walked unannounced into the Eurofighter stall and going straight to the Flight Simulator, clambered in, said eyewitnesses.

Antony, with Minister of State for Defense Pallam Raju and Bernhard Gerwert, CEO, Military Air Systems, EADS & Chairman, Supervisory Board, Eurofighter GmbH (extreme right with the blue badge).

The Eurofighter staff present, were only to happy to get a chance to show off their aircraft to the man who will have something to say about which of the six aircraft the Indian Air Force (IAF) ultimately buys at the end of the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition.

The bids made by the six defense vendors in response to the RFP (Request for Proposal) for the 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contest of the Indian Air Force (IAF) are subject to be changed or revised because the terms of the bids are valid only for two years and could lead to cost escalations, even before the winner is selected.

The vendors, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Saab, Dassault, Eurofighter and MiG had submitted their bids last year, the terms of which are valid for two years and will expire by mid-2010.

“We submitted our proposal on April 28th, 2009. That proposal will expire on April 28th, 2010,” says Orville Prins, Lockheed Martin’s Vice President of Business Development in India, adding, “There could be a cost escalation afterward. I don’t know. It’s possible that the Indian Air Force might ask for an extension of the terms of the proposal.” The order is already estimated to be worth $ 10 billion.

The flight trials of the six aircraft were initiated by the IAF earlier this month and are likely to take a little less than a year to complete. With the final decision to be taken only after an expected lengthy price negotiation subsequently, it is likely that the terms of the bids made by the six companies would have expired before such time, by the middle of next year.

Interestingly, Lockheed Martin for one has planned for this eventuality have made the proposal in the anticipation that the order will expire. We accommodate the fact that it wasn’t going to be decided by then,” says Prins, also indicating that some of the six vendors might keep their price unchanged or even lower them to make their bids more attractive, once the flight trials are complete and the terms of the proposals submitted have officially expired.

Incidentally, the MMRCA requirements also insist on a warranty, any failure of which would result in financial penalties on the vendor.

US defense contractor Lockheed Martin is seemingly unfazed by the spate of cuts in defense spending hitting western countries. The recession has forced countries like the US and the UK to slash planned spending on military equipment like the defense budgets of countries like the US and the UK and with the US capping its F-22 Raptor fleet at 187 the UK cutting back on the number of Eurofighters it was planning to purchase.

French company Dassault’s Rafale is also still only in service with the French armed forces, while the Swedish Gripen has been turned down by Norway in favor of the F-35 Lightening II Joint Strike Fighter. Defense vendors are officially scrambling for orders.

While affirming that the contest to decide the winner of the Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contest of the Indian Air Force (IAF) is important for the company, Orville Prins, Vice President for Business Development, indicated some of the other contenders in the race to be fighting to survive.

“The MMRCA is important to us in terms of the size of the order and our relationship with India,” he said, adding that the RFP (Request for Proposal) in question provides for an option for to buy an additional 63 aircraft.

Prins however denied that cuts in defense spending had made Lockheed Martin more eager to bag the order, albeit hinting the case may be different for other competitors in the race.

“I have read that others (competitors) are going out of business if they don’t get the Indian or Brazilian order,” he said, referring to the MMRCA as well as the Brazilian FX-2 program, which is a tender for 36 combat aircraft , in which three of the MMRCA contenders, Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, the French Dassault’s Rafale and the Swedish Saab’s Gripen are in the fray.

StratPost can confirm the scratching of Dassault’s horse in the Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) race, the Rafale.

Sources in the Ministry of Defense informed StratPost the aircraft was rejected for not being up to par as far as the technical requirements were concerned. “One issue was about power. The evaluating team was not impressed with the Thrust/Weight ratio,” one source told StratPost.

The Thrust/Weight ratio decide the maneuverability of the aircraft. The Rafale is reputed to have a Thrust/Weight ratio of 1.13. Interestingly, other contenders like the Lockheed Martin’s F-16 and Saab’s Gripen are reputed to have lower ratios of 1.095 and 0.94 respectively, while Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is said to have a ratio of 0.93. The Russian MiG-35 is said to have a ratio of 1.1 and the Eurofighter Typhoon 1.18.

In the case of Rafale, StratPost was informed the ratio was found to be unsatisfactory.

The Rafale was also said to have unspecified problems with its payload deployment system itself.

Other sources told StratPost, the Indian Air Force (IAF) was not impressed with the serviceability of the aircraft. At Exercise Red Flag in the United States last year, in which both the IAF as well as the French Air Force Rafales participated, the Rafales were observed to suffer considerable down time, which, according to some reports, was due to the lack of available spares.

Added to all this is the perception of the Rafale as an extremely expensive aircraft in comparison to its competitors, all five of whom are left in the race for the single largest defense contract in the world, for 126 fighter aircraft, said to be worth $ 12 billion.

But sources in the Ministry of defense have also expressed frustration at the lack of an official communique disqualifying Dassault’s Rafale from the race. “I don’t understand why they can’t issue an official note, if they have indeed made up their minds. Why do these games have to be played during election time?” asked one source.

The latest edition of the Bangalore Air Show to be held next week promises to be bigger and better than ever and in it’s seventh avatar will be the biggest show ever hosted by India. So says the Indian government’s Secretary for Defense Production, Pradeep Kumar. The show will have exhibitors from all around the globe under one roof showcasing the finest in aviation, with both flight as well as static displays of a wide range of civil and military aircrafts.

More than half the almost 600 participants at the show are from overseas. The 25 participating countries include UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands and Ukraine. China will be participating at this year’s Air Show for the first time.

The aircrafts on display include the F-16, F-18, MiG-35D, Eurofighter, IJT, Dhruv, Hawk, C-17, Embraer 135 business jet Legacy 600, C-130J, Citation XLS,G 550, AN-12 Cargo. The show will also see Defense Ministers from as many as eight countries at the show, not to mention defense delegations from 40 countries.

The show is a manifestation of the potential seen by foriegn manufacturers in the opening up of India’s defense sector to foreign direct investment. Indian and foreign companies will get the opportunity to network and share expertise and also conduct B2B meetings to maximize the potential for doing business.

India is in the market for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) and more than 200 helicopters for varying roles; is already buying eight of Boeing P-8I long range maritime aircraft, Boeing’s Harpoon missiles, six Hercules C-130J aircraft and awaiting the first of the AWACS aircraft from Israel . This list is merely indicative and hardly exhaustive.

Needless to say, if you’re a civil/military aviation manufacturer, the Bangalore Air Show is the place to be next week. StratPost will be there too, with in-depth daily coverage of products, displays, news and analysis.