The IAF deputy chief said the 'total cost of acquisition consists of two elements. One of it is the price element and the other is the payment terms. Combined together, I can tell you that the Rafale that we have gone in for is substantially lower that what was on the table in 2008'.
New Delhi: In a major setback to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the Indian Air Force (IAF) today dismissed his allegation that the plane under the deal between France and the NDA government of India is overpriced. The IAF said the price of the Modi government’s planes is lower that what was being negotiated for by the Congress regime.
Answering MyNation’s questions on the Rafale deal, IAF deputy chief Air Marshal R Nambiar stated further that the claim that Anil Ambani’s Reliance Industries was favoured as it got Rs 30,000 crore worth of offsets is not correct either.
“Those who are claiming these numbers are misinformed and not aware of the facts that are known to the Air Force as we are part of the contract negotiation with the French. I don’t think what is being alleged matches up with facts at all,” he said when asked about Rahul Gandhi’s claims that Modi government had acquired the Rafale planes at a price Rs 1,000 crore higher than what Congress had been negotiating for since 2008.
The Congress president and his entire party have been making allegations about the Rafale deal saying that the Modi government’s 36 Rafale plane deal in 2016 was a “scam” and that the planes are overpriced by at least Rs 1,000 crore per aircraft.
The IAF deputy chief said the “total cost of acquisition consists of two elements. One of it is the price element and the other is the payment terms. Combined together, I can tell you that the Rafale that we have gone in for is substantially lower that what was on the table in 2008”.
Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.