A Rafale-M jet. File.
| Photo Credit: Dinakar Peri
India and France are set to formally announce the conclusion of the around ₹63,000-crore deal for 26 Rafale-M fighter jets on Monday (April 28, 2025), official sources confirmed.
With the earlier planned visit of French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu to India for the signing deferred due to personal reasons, the government-to-government (G-to-G) deal is now being inked by the two Ministers remotely, sources in the know said.
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“The G-to-G agreement has been signed by the French Minister, and will be signed separately by the Indian Minister [Rajnath Singh]. A ceremony on Monday to announce this will be presided by the French Ambassador in India, Thierry Mathou, and Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh,” sources said. Some government-to-business agreements will be signed at the ceremony, sources added.
The visit of the French Defence Minister was deferred a day before the Pahalgam terror attack and had nothing to do with the current situation, sources stated.
Delivery in six years
As reported by The Hindu earlier, delivery of the jets will start in about three-and-a-half years once the contract is signed, and will be completed in about six-and-a-half years. The deal is for 22 single-seater jets that can operate off aircraft carriers and four twin-seater trainer jets that aren’t carrier compatible. The Indian Air Force already operates 36 Rafale jets acquired under a ₹60,000-crore deal signed in September 2016.
The Navy currently operates two aircraft carriers – INS Vikramaditya procured from Russia, and the indigenously built INS Vikrant, which was commissioned in September 2022. The Rafale-Ms are meant to fill the gap in numbers till the under-development indigenous Twin Engine Deck-Based Fighter (TEDBF) is inducted into service.
Indian aircraft carriers use a ski-jump to launch aircraft, and arrestor cables to recover aircraft that use a tail hook. The lifts (used to move aircraft) onboard Indian carriers were built to accommodate the in-service Russian MiG-29K jets. This would necessitate minor modifications to Rafales so that they can be accommodated on the lifts.
Published – April 25, 2025 08:39 pm IST