Mega Rs 64,000 crore deal for 26 Rafale-Marine jets cleared by government

NEW DELHI: Amid China’s ever-expanding naval forays into the Indian Ocean Region, the PM-led cabinet committee on security has cleared the mega Rs 63,887 crore (Euro 6.6 billion) deal with France for the direct acquisition of 26 Rafale-Marine fighter jets, which will primarily operate from the deck of indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.

The govt-to-govt contract for the 22 single-seat Rafale-M jets and four twin-seat trainers, which includes some weapons, simulators, crew training and five-year performance-based logistics support, will be inked “within this month”, officials told TOI.

French defence minister Sébastien Lecornu is likely to attend the signing of the inter-governmental agreement (IGA) and contract, which also includes some spares and equipment for the 36 Rafales already inducted by the IAF under the Rs 59,000 crore contract inked in Sept 2016. IAF has deployed 18 Rafales each at Ambala and Hasimara to cater for Pakistan and China.

The two major Rafale deals, neither of which involve transfer of technology, will automatically make the French fighter the frontrunner in the long-pending project to manufacture 114 multi-role fighter aircraft (MRFA) with foreign collaboration in India, which was initially estimated to cost Rs 1.25 lakh crore and is now being fast-tracked, as reported by TOI earlier.

The 26 Rafale-M fighters, designed for maritime strike, air defence and reconnaissance missions, will be delivered in 37 to 65 months after inking of the contract, which will involve India paying an initial 15% instalment of the total cost of the deal. “The new IGA mirrors the one inked in the IAF deal. All the 26 jets are to be delivered by 2031,” an official said.

The omni-role 4.5-generation Rafales, incidentally, are also capable of delivering nuclear weapons. In addition to the 70-km range Exocet AM39 anti-ship missiles, the Rafale-M jets will be armed with long-range precision strike weapons like the IAF variant. They include the over 300-km range `Scalp’ air-to-ground cruise missiles and the top-notch Meteor air-to-air missiles, which have a strike range of 120 to 150-km to take on enemy jets.


The Rafale-M deal also includes a commitment from France to help integrate Indian missiles like the naval short and medium-range anti-ship missiles (NASMs) and BrahMos-NG, being developed by DRDO, with the Rafale-M fighters in the future.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had undertaken a strident campaign in the run-up to the 2019 general elections against the earlier 36-Rafale contract, but the government dismissed all allegations of corruption and the issue found little resonance in the polls.

Now, the govt is going ahead with the procurement of another 26 jets manufactured by Dassault Aviation, with Thales being the weapon systems integrator.

The Rafale-M had emerged as the frontrunner over the American F/A-18 Super Hornet after extensive trials conducted by the Navy in 2022. The French fighter, in any case, had a head start on logistical, commonality of spares and maintenance after the IAF inducted its 36 Rafales.

The Navy currently has only 40 of the 45 MiG-29K jets, inducted from Russia at a cost of $2 billion from 2009 onwards, to operate from the decks of its two over 40,000-tonne aircraft carriers, the older Russian-origin INS Vikramaditya and the new indigenous INS Vikrant. Moreover, the MiG-29Ks have also been dogged by poor serviceability and other problems over the years.

With the indigenous twin-engine deck-based fighter (TEDBF) likely to take at least a decade to become operational, the Navy had pushed for the 26 Rafale-M jets as an interim measure.

Another mega deal with France, the Rs 33,500 crore one for the three additional diesel-electric Scorpene submarines to be constructed by Mazagon Docks (MDL) in collaboration with the French M/s Naval Group, is also now being finalised.

As for aircraft carriers with their integral fighters and other weapons, India has no option but to deploy them in the IOR and beyond in the backdrop of the region increasingly getting militarised.

China already has three aircraft carriers, the 60,000-tonne Liaoning, the 66,000-tonne Shandong and the over 80,000-tonne Fujian, and is fast building more such warships with nuclear-propulsion.

The Indian government, however, is yet to even give the preliminary nod for the long-pending case for a third 45,000-tonne aircraft carrier, let alone a more potent 65,000-tonne one, which will take at least a decade to build.

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