India’s defence ministry has provided initial acceptance for buying 26 Rafale fighter jets for its navy and three Scorpene-class submarines, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s coming in France, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh conveyed. Mr Modi is proceeding to strengthen bonding with New Delhi’s oldest strategic partner in the West, with a slew of high-profile defence deals expected and a new joint plan to ensure stability in the Indo-Pacific. The Singh-led Defence Acquisition Council, the apex body for military capital ownerships, gave the permission on Thursday.
The deal will be for the buying of 26 Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter jets, which involves four trainers, and for three Scorpene-class submarines to be made by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders with France’s Naval Group, two sources known with the details told Reuters. The ageing fleet of India’s Russian-made platforms, Moscow’s incapacity to perform maintenance task, and delays in India’s original manufacturing deals for parallel platforms have made important the two new defence deals to get executed. The marine version of Dassualt’s Rafale jets, intended for India’s first original aircraft carrier commissioned last year, outperformed the American Super Hornet F18s in tests last year for Indian needs. Details on the deal value are not revealed yet.
Mr Singh said in a tweet that the “price and other terms of purchase will be brought down with the French Government after considering it from all angles and perceptions, involving comparative procurement price of similar aircraft by other countries”. India has been depending on French fighter jets for many many years now. Much before buying Rafales in 2015, India bought Mirage jets in the 1980s, which still comprise two squadrons of the air force. In 2005, India purchased six Scorpene-class diesel submarines from France for 188 billion rupees (S$3 billion), the last of which will be commissioned in the coming year.