Sarkozy happy with Rafale selection by India; EADS Cassidian disappointed

New Delhi, Feb 1(PTI) France has said President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed happiness at India's selection of the French fighter aircraft Rafale for acquisition by Indian Indian Air Force and said negotiations for the contract would begin very soon. "The President of the French Republic has learned of India’s selection of the Rafale for the acquisition by the Indian Air Force of 126 fighter aircrafts. France is pleased with Indian government’s decision to select the French aircraft to enter into exclusive negotiations with Dassault," said a statement issued by the French Embassy here Tuesday. It said the announcement comes at the end of "a very high-level, fair and transparent competition" involving two European finalists for the bid. The statement said "negotiations for the contract will begin very soon and has the full support of the French authorities. It will include important technology transfers guaranteed by the French government. "Rafale has been selected, thanks to the aircraft’s competitive life-cycle costs, after the April 2011 pre-selection on the basis of its top-level operational performance", it added. "The realisation of the Rafale project will illustrate the depth and scale of the strategic partnership between France and India," the statement said. Meanwhile, after losing out Tuesday to Dassault Rafale India's biggest-ever military contract for supplying 126 combat aircraft, European EADS said it was disappointed over the development but respected the Indian Defence Ministry's decision. "Although this is not yet a contract signature and contract negotiations are still ahead, we are disappointed. However, we respect the decision of the Indian defence Ministry," EADS Cassidian, the makers of the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, said in a release. The company said that with the Eurofighter Typhoon, it had offered the most modern combat aircraft available to the IAF. "Based on the Indian Government feedback, we will now carefully analyse and evaluate this situation together with our European partner companies and their respective governments," it said. Eurofighter Typhoon is manufactured by a four-nation consortium of UK, Germany, Spain and Italy and all four governments were backing the bid in the Indian tender. PTI