The price at which India agreed to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from Dassault Aviation SA has become the centre of a political tussle over the last week.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi scaled up the attack recently when he demanded the details of the deal that the Narendra Modi administration struck with French aircraft builder and integrator Dassault in April 2015 be made public. The Ministry of Defense in a published statement said doing so would “compromise national security”.
Defence experts disagree. Former Army Colonel and Business Standard columnist Ajai Shukla argued that the government does not have to provide details of each and every component of the fighter jet. Instead, it could only release a ballpark figure.
One just has to provide broad block details like of spares, maintenance, India specific enhancement. Government will not be revealing operational details over thereAjai Shukla, Business Standard Columnist
Senior Research Fellow at IPCS (Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies), Abhijit Iyer Mitra agreed, adding that revealing specifics would aid India's enemies.
Once you make public how many spare engines, long range cruise missile and air to air missiles you've got, it makes the entire attack prognostication of your enemy a lot easier.Abiheet Iyer-Mitra, Senior Research Fellow, IPCS
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