July 13, 2011 by Shiv Aroor LIVEFIST
FIRST ON LIVEFIST: After months of frenetic anticipation -- and a whiff of conflict over the price of the weapons package -- the Indian government today cleared a long-pending deal to upgrade 52 Indian Air Force Mirage 2000H/TH fighters. The deal with Dassault, Thales and MBDA will be signed shortly. The deal, which has remained in its final stages for over a year without being cleared, will fit 52 IAF Mirages with new avionics, the Thales RDY-2 multimode radar and RF/IR MICA air-to-air missiles.
It is unclear what the total deal value is, with suggestions ranging from $2.1-billion to over $4-billion. It is also understood that the weapons component of the deal, worth some $700-million, remains to be cleared by the government. Will update.