Govt, Qatar’s Emir to hold Mirage talks

The Centre and visiting Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani will begin on Friday negotiations on Qatar’s proposed sale of 1...

The Centre and visiting Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani will begin on Friday negotiations on Qatar’s proposed sale of 12 Mirage-2000-5 fighters to the IAF. On March 29, the Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the path for price negotiations.

The 12 fighters will make up for the six IAF Mirage crashes since 1987 and the IAF’s requirements for its new 9 Squadron at Gwalior. The deal for the 12 new Qatari Mirage-2000s — nine single seaters and three trainers —is likely to be concluded in the next three months, sources said, and add to the IAF’s acquisition of 10 Mirage-2000s directly from Dassault, six of which have already arrived.

Qatar offered to sell the 12 Mirages to New Delhi — they were previously also on offer to Pakistan — during the NDA regime. Qatar, which has put on the block the twelve aircraft in line with its interest in acquiring American fighters, including the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Falcon, is apparently prepared to sell the seven-year-old jets for an ‘‘extremely competitive’’ price, said sources.

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The 12 jets, which have about 80 per cent of service life left, will be upgraded with new avionics and mission systems by French manufacturer Dassault Aviation before delivery to India. The Mirage-2000-5 is the same Mirage variant which stands to bid for the IAF’s separate tender for 126 multirole fighters, competing against the American F-16, Swedish Gripen and Russian MiG-29M. Of the 49 Mirage-2000s the IAF bought in 1984 from France, 42 remain.

Sheikh Hamad, who last visited in 1999, is accompanied by Qatar’s first deputy prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor al-Thani, Commerce Minister Mohammad bin Ahmad al-Thani and Finance Minister Yousef Hussein Kamaal. He will meet the Indian ministers for defence, civil aviation and petroleum.

Also on the Emir’s agenda is a continuation of the energy dialogue — Qatar is exploring both India and Pakistan as lucrative LPG export markets and holding separate dialogue with both countries for investments in Qatar’s oil exploration and production sector.

The Emir will also be looking to push for more Qatar Airways flights to India, to complement routes the carrier already plies to Nepal and Mauritius.

For Kolkata, the IMD has forecast mostly cloudy skies with light to moderate rain or thundershowers on most days through Panchami.

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