Dassault Rafale v/s. Eurofighter Typhoon :- Why Government Ignored Offer From Eurofighter

India bought 36 Rafales worth €7.878 billion. But these deal includes the Rafale fighter, the Meteor and MICA Missiles, along with other weapons, Logistics and Supplies.

Meteor missile is a Beyond Visual Range missile of 100 km range and provides a no-escape zone three times greater than that of a conventionally powered missile in a head-on engagement. Exerts say that the Meteor is five times as lethal as its conventional equivalent such as the American AMRAAM missile, and can hit farther than the missile that Pakistan air force has in its arsenal. The Rafales will also be fitted with MICA missiles, an Air to Land precision missile of more than 300 km range.

The deal also includes the cost the full weapons package, performance-based logistics, India-specific enhancements and associated supplies.
The deal was initially offered at €12 billion, but after tough negotiation by the Indian Government, the price was finalised at €7.8 billion.

Now, according to ThePrint

“€138 million per unit for 126 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft against the €197 million for each of the 36 Rafale jets New Delhi agreed to buy from Paris.”

In the Rafale deal worth €7.87 bilion, India got -36 Rafale fighters,Mica Missiles,Meteor Missiles,Full weapons packages.’Performance-based logistics,India-specific enhancements and associated supplies.

While, €138 million is only the price of a single Typhoon, that too, if India had bought 126 Typhoons, which could have cost a whopping €17 billion. Weapons, Logistics, Supplies, and Indian Enhancements would have cost more, taking the price of 126 Typhoons to €25+ billion.

Also Eurofighter does not hold any significant advantage over the Rafale. You are not looking at the aircraft while buying it; you are looking at the whole package; including initial expense and maintenance cost, weapons package, radar, source codes, economic and political benefits, support during crisis, dependability, etc.

Eurofighter is manufactured by four different countries, and is also armed with US missiles, where even if one gives a slip during crisis, you may end up with a bunch of expensive aircraft with nothing to do.

Rafale and Sukhoi, as are the F-35 and Gripen, made by a single country. However, France and Russia have been reliable suppliers for us; although the Russians squeeze us for every rupee, the French are more supportive (but of course they sell even to Pakistan).

The Indian Air Force also is a satisfied user of long standing of French fighters, going back to the Dassault Ouragan in the 1950s. It was also particularly appreciative of the performance of its Mirages during the 1999 Kargil campaign against Pakistan, and of the support it then obtained from France. During that campaign, India obtained French clearance – and possibly more – to urgently adapt Israeli and Russian-supplied laser-guided bombs to the Mirages, which were thus able to successfully engage high-altitude targets that Indian MiG-23s and MiG-27s had been unable to reach.

The OP has asked ‘Why Indian Govt cancelled the Eurofighter deal?’

First of all, there was no deal negotiations between the Indian Govt and Eurofighter. Indian Govt negotiated only with the winner of the MMRCA tender, which in this case, was Dassault. The Typhoon was rejected in the MMRCA competition, and Rafale was chosen. Later the MMRCA project was cancelled and 36 Rafales were purchased directly. Thus, negotiations never took place between Indian Govt and Eurofighter.

Two other nations, Qatar & Egypt, also bought Rafales.

Qatar’s deal with Dassault for Rafale fighter worth €6.7 billion includes
24 Rafale fighters.

Meteor Missiles,Training for 36 pilots and 100 Mechanics.

Thus for Qatar, according to this report, the cost per unit of Rafale was €279 million.

Egypt, too, bought 24 Rafales worth €208 million each, along with MBDA missiles.

Now compare, Indian deal of €192 million per fighter, with the above two. You will get the answer of which deal was better negotiated and why Indian Govt chose Rafale over Eurofighter. The Rafale deal is one of the best defence deal negotiated by the Indian Govt till date.

French company Snecma (a Dassault partner) has proposed to invest €1 billion in the Indian project of Kaveri Gas Turbine Engine to be fitted in the Tejas MK1A. Snecma will help revive Kaveri engine and make it flight-worthy within 18 months.[5] Also, as part of the deal, the multimode AESA radar technology will be transferred to DRDO for application on UTTAM AESA radar.

The deal comes with a 50% offset clause which means that Indian companies will get business worth over €3 billion and generating thousands of jobs in India through offsets. This clause is expected to boost indigenous defence production with joint ventures with local partner firms and licensed production.

Source:- Quora