France's Macron hard-sells 36 more Rafales, India silent on deal

法国总统马克龙强行推销36架阵风战斗机，印度保持缄默

NEW DELHI: The India-France joint statement has no mention of the acquisition of another 36 Rafale fighters as hoped for by the French government even as President Emmanuel Macron declared that the defence contract is at the heart of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

新德里：尽管法国总统马克龙宣称，国防采购合同是两国战略伙伴关系的关键，印-法联合声明中还是没有提及法国政府寄予希望的36架“阵风”战斗机采购。

Indian sources said a decision on more Rafale fighters will be taken once delivery of the initial lot of 36 jets begins though the two sides finally signed an agreement for nuclear reactors at Jaitapur. The Rafale deal has been at the centre of a political ruckus with Congress alleging corruption and BJP rejecting the charge vehemently.

印度消息称，双方最终在杰塔普签署核反应堆采购协议，印方可能会在第一批36架阵风战斗机交付后，决定是否购买阵风战斗机。阵风战斗机采购已引发了激烈的政治争吵，国大党指控对手涉及腐败，人民党断然否认。

The two countries inked a range of agreements on Saturday that are the building blocks of a wide arch of cooperation but the formal announcements skipped mention of discussions on further Rafale acquisitions though Macron clearly saw the deal as a significant marker in burgeoning India-France ties.

两国于周六签署了一系列协议，这些协议为两国的合作搭建了桥梁，尽管马克龙将这单采购视为迅速发展的印-法关系的重要标志，但最终的声明中还是略过了阵风战斗机的采购事宜

“India had made a sovereign decision in this respect and we are monitoring progress in the field. We very much want to continue the programme. It is a long-term contract which is mutually beneficial. I personally consider it as the heart of the strategic partnership,” Macron said.

马克龙说：“印度在这件事上做出了独立决定，我们会继续关注后续事态。我们非常期待这个计划的继续进行。这是一个长期合约，双方都将受益。我个人将此视为战略合作伙伴关系的重心。”

译文来源：三泰虎 http://www.santaihu.com/44372.html

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France had wanted India to announce its interest in acquiring another 36 Rafale fighters, after the IAF inducts the first 36 jets being acquired under the Rs 59,000 crore contract (7.87 billion euro) mega deal inked in September 2016.

2016年9月，印度空军签署了首批36架阵风战斗机，价值5900亿卢布（78.7亿欧元）的采购协议后，法国一度希望印度声明追加采购36架阵风战斗机。

French defence minister Florence Parly, ahead of Macron’s ongoing visit to India, had written to her Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman that France is keen to “initiate discussions on the proposal of providing an additional 36 aircraft to the IAF, with a very significant share of Make in India". She said, “A message to this effect during the visit would be particularly appreciated."

法国国防部长佛罗伦斯帕丽，在马克龙访问印度之前，给印度国防部长尼马拉希塔拉曼写信，称法国期待与印度“就向印度空军提供额外36架飞机的方案进行讨论”，“我们希望在访问期间收到印方的回复”。

The Indian defence ministry, however, says “no decision has yet been taken” on whether to go in for the acquisition of two additional Rafale squadrons (each has 18 jets) in the future. “It will be taken at a later stage once the delivery of the first 36 jets begins,” said a source.

印度国防部长，回复称未来是否追加采购2个阵风战斗机中队（每个中队有18架编制）“尚未最终决定”。有消息称“此事要等到首批36架阵风战斗机开始交付后再做定夺”。

The first 36 Rafale jets are slated for induction at the Hasimara (West Bengal) and Ambala (Haryana) airbases between November 2019 and mid-2022. The IAF has projected the operational need to go in for another 36 Rafales in the backdrop of its depleting number of fighter squadrons as well as both Hasimara and Ambala having the requisite infrastructure to house two squadrons each, as was earlier reported by TOI.

首批36架阵风战斗机将在2019年11月至2022年中，进入哈西马特（西孟加拉邦）和Ambala（哈里亚纳邦）空军基地服役。《印度时报》早前曾报道，基于哈西马特（西孟加拉邦）和Ambala（哈里亚纳邦）空军基地各自需要储备2个战斗机中队，印度空军宣布追加36架阵风战斗机的需求。

All this comes amidst the ongoing political slugfest between the NDA government and Congress, with the latter levelling allegations that the “non-transparent” Rafale deal was vastly overpriced, violated defence procurement procedures, included no transfer of technology (ToT), and was intended to benefit the Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Defence as the “offsets partner” of the French fighter manufacturer Dassault Aviation.

此事引发了不间断的政治争吵，国大党指控战斗机采购“不够公开透明”，采购价格过高，违反了国防采购程序，比如法方不转授技术，意在使安尼尔·安巴尼为首的信实防务成为法国战斗机制造商达索航空的“补偿伙伴”。

The government, however, has strongly rejected the “baseless and unfounded allegations”, stressing that it secured a “better deal” in terms of price, capability, equipment, delivery and maintenance than the one “notionally being negotiated” by the previous UPA regime for 126 Rafale jets under the now-scrapped MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project.

但是政府部门强烈反对这项“毫无根据的”指控，强调这是一项“更好的采购”，价格、性能、配置、交付和维修等方面都“比之前团结进步联盟政党时期的126架阵风战斗机的采购更优化，该项中型多功能战斗机采购议案现已作废”。

“There is no scam here,” said defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman last w”eek, rejecting any comparison with the infamous Bofors howitzer scandal that brought down the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1989.

国防部长尼马拉希塔拉曼上周称，“此事绝不涉及欺诈”，并拒绝将此事与造成1989年拉吉夫甘地政府倒台的臭名昭著的博福斯高射炮丑闻相提并论。