India will pick up by next one month the vendor for its biggest-ever military fighter deal for purchasing 126 Medium-Multirole Combat Aircraft at a cost of $11 billion, the contract of which is expected to be finalised by September.
Addressing a press conference here, Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said all the problems related to the offsets proposals have been sorted out and if the bid losers "don't put spokes in the wheel," the deal would be finalised in the given timeframe.
"We hope to start the contract negotiations in the next two to four weeks and the deal may be signed by September," he said.
Six aircraft including Russian MiG-35, American F-16 and F/A-18, Swedish Gripen, European Eurofighter and French Rafale are in the race for the multi-billion dollar contract.
Naik said "unless dissatisfied vendors put spokes", which may involve getting clearances from the Central Vigilance Commission or legal proceedings, the deal would be finalised by September -- in the next fiscal.
The IAF is planning to induct these aircraft to augment its number and replace the Russian-origin MiG series aircraft, which are on their way out of the service.
Complementing the IAF team involved in the evaluation trials, Naik said the process was a "complicated" one as each aircraft had to be tested for 600 different parameters by the IAF.
Under the procurement process, the Defence Ministry negotiates with the company offering the lowest price for the equipment required by respective services.
Asked about the procurement of new cluster bombs from American firm Textron, he said that would be first put on the Jaguar deep penetration fighters by the IAF.