The much awaited Rafale fighter jet deal with France is in the final stages of contract negotiations and is expected to be inked soon. The Government-to-Government contract is expected to be around 7.8 billion Euros for 36 jets manufactured by French aircraft manufacturer Dassault. The first lot of jets will join service two years from the date of signing the contract which has to be given the nod by Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by the Prime Minister.
“Finer points of the contract are being worked out. The deal is almost in final stages,” Govern-ment sources said on Monday. Officials of Defence Ministries of India and France besides representatives of Dassault are engaged in the negotiations, they said, adding the clearance for the deal could be announced soon. However, officials refrained from giving a time frame for the announcement.
last month, a report submitted by the team negotiating the proposed contract was cleared by the Defence Ministry. The file was then sent to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for review and clearance.
Sources said the PMO had sought from the Defence Ministry some clarifications on the life cycle costs and unit price of the aircraft which was replied to. French sources said they are expecting a positive development this month and their officials were camping in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to France in April last year announced that India will purchase 36 Rafale jets in a Government-to-Government contract. Soon after this development, the Defence Ministry scrapped an earlier ongoing process to purchase 126 Rafale fighter planes. As per that proposal, while 18 jets were to be bought off the shelf, the Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl) was the manufacture the remaining 108 planes under licenced production. The deal could not go through due to difference over cost and other related issues between India and the French manufacturer.
The weapon systems, part of the deal, will also include the new-age, beyond visual range missile, Meteor, and Israeli helmet mounted display.
The total price of the deal was brought down from nearly 10 billion euros, as sought initially, due to various reasons including tough negotiation by India, the discount offered by the French Government and reworking of some of the criteria. The French also agreed to the 50 per cent off set clause as sought by India. It entails, the French investing 50 per cent of the contract amount into the Indian Defence industry.
France has also offered to collaborate in developing and manufacturing fighter jet engine for indigenously designed and built Tejas fighter jet. Indian scientists are yet to make a breakthrough in successfully developing the Kaveri engine. This project was sanctioned more than 20 years back.