It wouldn't surprise me if Eurofighter thinks politics -- and not performance -- will decide who wins India's mega-fighter contract. But it does surprise me that somebody actually said it. India is currently judging the six competitors on technical performance, with a downselect leading to an analysis of economic benefits.
StratPost blog editor Saurabh Joshi today quotes Matthias Schmidlin, who leads Eurofighter's pursuit in India.
StratPost blog editor Saurabh Joshi today quotes Matthias Schmidlin, who leads Eurofighter's pursuit in India.
"The final decision at the end of the day will be political. We all know that. This is, at the moment, the largest defense contract around the globe. And it will be the largest fighter, combat campaign for the next decade to come. So clearly, this is very strategic for all the vendors in the campaign."
Acknowledging the contestants would have to satisfy the technical and commercial evaluations before getting to a point where they can be decided upon politically, saying, "Every vendor needs to go through the compliant bid up to that point."Schmidlin also thinks the Eurofighter has the advantage of the political inheritance it carries from Europe. "Once we are at this last and final stage: the political element, I'm convinced that the German government is fully committed behind this campaign," he says.
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