New Delhi: The Rs 9,000 crore project to acquire six Airbus-330 mid-air refuelling aircraft or tankers has received another jolt, with the almost finalized deal now being referred to the defence ministry's vigilance department for clearance.
Sources say the procurement case has been "put on hold" till the vigilance wing vets the allegations raised about old pending CBI inquiries against European consortium Airbus. "The work of the contract negotiations committee (CNC) had been stopped till the vigilance wing ascertains the status of the old cases," said a source.
This comes just before PM Narendra Modi embarks on next week's visit to France and Germany, the main centres for the Airbus Group. The defence ministry on Saturday had also cleared the long-term DRDO project to build advanced AWACS (airborne warning and control systems), which will include mounting indigenous 360-degree coverage AESA (active electronically scanned array) radars on A-330s, at an initial cost of Rs 5,113 crore.
03/04/15 Rajat Pandit/Times of India
Sources say the procurement case has been "put on hold" till the vigilance wing vets the allegations raised about old pending CBI inquiries against European consortium Airbus. "The work of the contract negotiations committee (CNC) had been stopped till the vigilance wing ascertains the status of the old cases," said a source.
This comes just before PM Narendra Modi embarks on next week's visit to France and Germany, the main centres for the Airbus Group. The defence ministry on Saturday had also cleared the long-term DRDO project to build advanced AWACS (airborne warning and control systems), which will include mounting indigenous 360-degree coverage AESA (active electronically scanned array) radars on A-330s, at an initial cost of Rs 5,113 crore.
03/04/15 Rajat Pandit/Times of India
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