India and France on Tuesday discussed bilateral Defence ties and reviewed ongoing contract negotiations for medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA)proposed deal during delegation-level talks between Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his French counterpart Jean Yves le Drian here.
The Defence Ministry is negotiating the Rs45,000-crore contract for 126 planes, often termed as mother of all Defence deals, with French aerospace company Dassault for the last two years. Rafale fighter jet manufactured by Dassault was shortlisted as the lowest bidder for the proposed deal.
One of the iissues of standing guarantee for 108 fighter jets to be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl) was resolved, officials said here after the 45-minute talks between Parrikar and le Drian.
Earlier, the bone of contention was that who will stand guarantee for these jets as Dassault maintained that it cannot be the guarantor for a plane manufactured in India by HAl. Officials said this issue is now resolved as HAl will be the guarantor. As per the contract terms, IAF will buy 18 planes off the shelf while HAl will build the remaining 108 in India through technology transfer pact.
The two Ministers also did the ground work for upcoming visit of PM Narendra Modi to France sometime in April, they said. The two delegations also reviewed the progress of Scorpene submarine deal.