Indian Air Force Mirage Maintenance Contract Renewed With Dassault
Dated 6/8/2008
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After resolving differences on technical issues, French company Dassault and the Indian Defence Ministry inked an agreement Aug. 5 on maintenance of the Indian Air Force's Mirage aircraft fleet.
Ministry sources said a six-month stalemate between the two sides was finally broken when the Indian side acceded to the French company's demands pertaining to charges on liquidated damages.Half of the Air Force's 46 Mirage 2000-H aircraft faced grounding had the stalemate persisted, a service official said. Dassault had insisted on renewing the maintenance contract only if liquidated charges are calculated at the rate of 0.5 percent of the total contract on a monthly basis. The Defence Ministry wanted the 0.5 percent to be calculated per week.
Sources in the ministry said the Aug. 5 agreement meets Dassault's demand. Dassault had threatened to take the matter to the courts, which would have led to long delays in Mirage repairs.
The repair contract originally was signed in 1982, when the Mirage aircraft were delivered, and was due for renewal in 2007.
