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In a significant development, India is going to take up the around Rs 3.25 lakh crore deal for buying 114 Rafale fighter jets from France, which would be manufactured in India with an indigenous content of around 30 per cent, at a high-level meeting of the Defence Ministry this week.
Top Defence sources told ANI that as per the proposal, the deal would also include around 12-18 Rafale jets to be acquired by the Indian Air Force in fly-away condition. As per the proposal to be taken up for discussion at a high-level Defence Ministry meeting scheduled to be held in the next two to three days, the Indian side is also asking France to enable the integration of Indian weapons and other indigenous systems into the French aircraft under the government-to-government deal, they said. The source codes will remain with the French side only. Interestingly, India is moving ahead with the deal with France when both the United States of America and Russia have offered their fifth-generation fighters, including the F-35 and the Su-57, respectively, to the Indian Air Force. The indigenous content in the aircraft would be around 30 per cent only. Generally, the indigenous content required in Make in India deals is around 50-60 per cent. If approved, this would be India's largest-ever defence deal and would take the number of Rafale jets in the Indian military to 176, as the Indian Air Force already has 36 of them, while the Indian Navy placed orders for 26 of them last year. "The Statement of Case (SoC) or the proposal for the 114 Rafale jets prepared by the Indian Air Force was received by the Defence Ministry a few months ago. Once approved by the Defence Ministry, the proposal will have to be given final clearance by the Cabinet Committee on Security The move to take the proposal forward came soon after the Rafale performed very well against Pakistan in Operation Sindoor, where it managed to comprehensively beat the Chinese PL-15 air-to-air missiles using its Spectra Electronic Warfare suite. The indigenous content in the Made in India Rafale fighter jets is expected to be more than 60 per cent. The French side is also planning to set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility for the M-88 engines, which are used by Rafale jets in Hyderabad. The French firm Dassault has already set up a firm to look after the maintenance of French-origin fighter jets. Indian aerospace firms such as Tata are also likely to be part of the manufacturing. India has an urgent need to induct fighter jets to address the growing threat perception in the region. The IAF's fighter jet force structure is expected to be primarily comprised of the Su-30 MKIs, Rafales, and indigenous fighter jet projects. India has already ordered 180 LCA Mark 1A jets and also has plans to induct the indigenous fifth-generation fighter in large numbers beyond 2035. (ANI)
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