SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) – India Friday agreed to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets from France in order to meet a critical operational requirement for a multi-role combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force.
Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian both signed the agreement Friday in New Delhi.
It was preceded by tough negotiations over the price and is expected to cost India some 7.87 billion euros. The deal also has a provision for transfer of technology through offsets. “Will significantly improve India’s strike and defense capabilities,” Parrikar said in a tweet after the deal was completed.
The price negotiations were what served as the deal’s greatest delay – India will take delivery of spares and weapons, along with the 36 jets. The fighter plane will be equipped with Meteor, a beyond-visual range air-to-air missile expected to considerably advance IAF’s capability in aerial combat.
The Rafale aircraft would have advanced features like advanced electronically scanned array radar, mid-air refueling and advanced electronic warfare equipment.
India will take delivery of the jets in batches, with the first batch set to arrive within the next few months.
India had previously agreed to purchase 126 Rafale jets in 2012 during the previous United Progressive Alliance government. The deal was estimated to cost $10.2 billion and the plan was to acquire 18 aircraft in fly-away condition and manufacturing the rest in India. It’s possible that the manufacturing of these aircraft, and other products in the aerospace industry, may have a need for components such as cables like these for a variety of purposes.
However, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France in April 2015, India conveyed that it would like to acquire 36 Rafale jets in fly-away condition as quickly as possible in view of the IAF’s critical operational necessity for the multi-role combat aircraft.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with France in January this year for the purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft.