Saturday, 16 April 2016

India Close To Rs 60,000 Crore Deal With France To Buy 36 Rafale Fighter Jets

New Delhi: India's much negotiated deal with France for 36 fighter jets is final as India will buy the French-made Rafale planes for Rs 60,00 crore $8.8 billion. The agreement is to be signed within three weeks and it will take at least 18 months for India to get the first lot of aircraft.


The development came nearly four months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande signed a memorandum of agreement (MoU) to purchase 36 Rafale combat jets. The Indian side has been negotiating hard to bring down the price of the Rafale deal.
The Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) and the actual multi-billion dollar contract could not be inked during President Francois Hollande's visit to India as the chief guest for the January 26 Republic Day parade due to the persisting differences between the two countries.
The ongoing negotiations were reminiscent of the deadlocked price negotiations for the original MMRCA project after Rafale was selected over five contenders — including the Eurofighter Typhoon and the American F/A-18 and F-16 — in January 2012. Under the MMRCA project, the first 18 fighters were to be imported from France with the remaining 108 being made by defense PSU Hindustan Aeronautics after transfer of technology.
The Rafales are made by manufacturer Dassault Aviation. During PM Modi's visit, the countries agreed that the deal would be handled between their governments.
 The Air Force has stressed it needs to start replacing its ageing jet fleet from 2017 to effectively check the capabilities of Pakistan and China.


 

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