Indian Air Force presents its final proposal for the purchase of 114 locally produced Rafale fighter jets

With the aim of strengthening its fighter fleet in the near future and increasing the number of operational squadrons, the Indian Air Force, in collaboration with French manufacturer Dassault, has submitted its final proposal to carry out the purchase of 114 new Rafale jets to be locally produced. The proposal is now being evaluated by the Ministry of Defence to determine its feasibility. According to reports from New Delhi, the acquisition would require an investment of two trillion rupees and would stand out for involving the domestic military-industrial complex in up to 60% of the aircraft’s components, in line with the “Made in India” program.

Expanding on the details, it has been reported that the proposal is currently in the hands of the Defence Acquisition Board, which must issue its decision within the coming weeks. Once approved, the project will also be reviewed by the Defence Acquisition Council, which will have the final authority to allow the country to move forward with the Rafale purchase. If approved, India could boast a total fleet of 176 French-origin fighters, considering the addition of 36 units already acquired for the Air Force and another 26 for the Indian Navy, intended to be integrated into its aircraft carriers INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya.

As with the Air Force’s push for the proposal, this procurement for the Navy also has as one of its main advantages the involvement of local industry in its production, for which various developments and agreements have already been made with Dassault. As an illustrative example, the French company has plans to establish a maintenance and repair facility for the Rafale’s M-88 engines in Indian territory, located in the Hyderabad region.

Furthermore, it is worth noting that for the institution, this major acquisition will help increase the number of available units in view of future conflicts, considering that with the imminent retirement of its MiG-21 fighters and delays in the production of LCA Tejas fighters, the Indian Air Force will be left with a total of 29 operational squadrons, while its current strategies establish that this number should be 42. This constitutes one of the main concerns for Air Force authorities, taking into account the conflicts with neighboring Pakistan and the threat posed by China’s growing military power.

In relation to this, Indian officials consulted by local media highlighted that the Rafale performed excellently in the recent Operation Sindoor, a claim accompanied by statements indicating favorable results in air combat against their Pakistani counterparts and Chinese-origin PL-15 missiles. From Islamabad, however, reports painted a diametrically opposed picture, suggesting that flaws in Indian intelligence were exploited to carry out several shootdowns of the French platform with the aforementioned weaponry; these contradictory reports are one of the main features left by the confrontation.

Images used for illustrative purposes

You may also be interested in: Denmark lifts veto on the export of a key component for the production of India’s new LCA Tejas Mk1A fighter jet