NEW DELHI: India's expansive strategic partnership with France is set to get a further boost with two mega deals being virtually finalised for direct acquisition of 26 Rafale-Marine fighters, as well as the construction of three additional Scorpene submarines, which will collectively be worth almost Rs 1 lakh crore (Euro 10.6 billion).
As PM Narendra Modi left for Paris on Monday, government sources told TOI that the Rs 63,000 crore deal for 22 single-seat Rafale-M jets and four twin-seat trainers for Navy is now with the cabinet committee for security (CCS), awaiting the final nod.
The Rs 33,500 crore deal for 3 additional diesel-electric Scorpene submarines, to be constructed by Mazagon Docks (MDL) in collaboration with French Naval Group, in turn, will soon head for CCS after inter-ministerial consultations. "CCS will take up the Rafale-M deal after the PM returns from France-US trip. The cost negotiations for Scorpenes took a little longer because MDL had originally quoted a high price. The aim is to ink both deals before this fiscal ends on March 31," a source said.
The two countries are also discussing a possible collaboration between French major Safran, which already makes helicopter engines in India, and DRDO to co-develop the 110 kilonewton jet engine for the Indian fifth-generation stealth fighter project, AMCA (advanced medium combat aircraft). But that is in the future. The impending government-to-government Rafale-M deal includes weapons, simulators, crew training and five-year performance-based logistics support as well as spares for the 36 Rafales already inducted by IAF under the Rs 59,000 crore contract in Sept 2016.
The 26 Rafale-M jets manufactured by Dassault Aviation, with "specific enhancements" to operate from the deck of indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, will be delivered in 37 to 65 months after inking of the contract. "The new inter-governmental agreement mirrors the one inked in the IAF deal. All jets are to be delivered by 2030-31," a source said.
The first of the three additional Scorpenes, in turn, will roll out of MDL in six years, followed by the other two at intervals of a year each, after the contract is inked. The deal's cost does not yet include the price of fitting them with the fuel cell-based air-independent propulsion (AIP) developed by DRDO for greater underwater endurance.
The three new Scorpenes will have "some design modifications and improvements" over the first six such Kalvari-class vessels constructed at MDL for over Rs 23,000 crore. The plan is to fit them with the indigenous AIP, while the first six operational Scorpenes will progressively get it when they come for their scheduled refits.