French Defence Minister Florance Parley will be in New Delhi on an official visit during which she is likely to make a strong pitch to sell additional Rafale fighter jets.
share this post:
Why it is in news?
French Defence Minister Florance Parley will be in New Delhi on an official visit during which she is likely to make a strong pitch to sell additional Rafale fighter jets.
RAFALE
In September last year, India and France concluded a €7.87-billion government-to-government deal for 36 Rafale jets in flyaway condition scheduled to be delivered between 2019 and 2022.
The deal has a 50% offset clause to be executed by Dassault and its partners in India amounting up to ₹30,000 crore.
Following this, Dassault Aviation and Reliance Defence announced a joint venture called “Dassault Reliance Aerospace”, which is likely to execute a major part of the offsets.
Single-engine jet
The Indian Air Force has stated its requirement for additional twin-engine fighter jets and has expressed its desire for more Rafale jets.
However, with a depleting fighter strength and several squadrons of MiG-21s and MiG-27s to be phased out, the focus is now on procuring a single-engine fighter jet under the newly promulgated Strategic Partnership model.
The IAF is operating 32 fighter squadrons against the sanctioned strength of 42, which is set to drop further in the coming years.
