NEW DELHI:India will buy 26 Rafale Marine (M) from France soon as the deal has been cleared by Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), the highest decision making body of the government.
The sources on Wednesday confirmed that the deal has been given a go head. The move is aimed at strengthening the country's maritime air combat capability.
The procurement deal to be worth around 63,000 crores, highest so far, will include 26 Rafale M aircraft, consisting of 22 single-seater and four double-seater trainer versions. The deal for 156 Light Combat Helicopters, Prachand signed recently between the Ministry of Defence and the HAL will become second as it was estimated to be about Rs 62,700 cr.
The final documentary formalities are expected to be officially inked later this month as French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu is scheduled to visit India. G2G is a mode of defence procurement involving direct negotiation between the government of the importer country with that of the exporter country.
The Navy has been exploring options to replace its ageing MiG-29K as a short-term solution. India has been working on developing its own twin-engine deck-based fighters as a long-term solution to its need for carrier-based fighters. But since there are still some years before the aircraft is indigenously developed, the Navy has decided to go in for the acquisition to meet its requirement.
The Rafale M is multi-role fighter jets with a reinforced undercarriage to bear the stresses of carrier landing. Short take-off but arrested recovery (STOBAR) is a mechanism to launch and recover aircraft from the aircraft carrier.
As reported by TNIE, The Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of naval Staff in December 2024 said: "Rafale Marine is at an advanced stage of negotiations and is only one level short of taking it to the Cabinet Committee on Security. Since it is a government-to-government deal, it should not take much time."
Admiral Tripathi was addressing the media at the annual press conference in the national capital, on the eve of the Navy Day.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 2023 had given the go-ahead for the procurement of the Rafale-M jets from France to fill the pressing need of aircraft carrier onboard deployment, primarily of INS Vikrant. India Navy at present operates the Russian origin MiG-29K. The Indigenous project LCA Navy is in its development phase.
It was in July 2023 that the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved two proposals including that of acquiring 26 Rafale-M combat fighters and also manufacturing of three new submarines in India.
As per procedure, it is the DAC that grants the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) which sets the procedure for acquisition. The Defence Acquisition Council is the highest decision-making body on issues related to policy and capital procurement and is chaired by the Defence Minister.
As far as Scorpene class submarines are concerned, the new project is for the indigenous construction of three more submarines. Under the earlier project, the Indian Navy already has six of these submarines in service.
What went in favour towards these maritime fighters is that the Indian Air Force has already acquired 36 Rafale fighters. The commonality of the fleet and the resultant savings on training, repairs and maintenance have reportedly tilted the scale in favour of Dassault’s Rafale M. The two aircraft’s versions have over 80 per cent common features.
The CCS is the highest decision making body of the Government which debates, discusses and green signals the appointments, policy changes and procurements having national security significance. The members of the CCS include Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs and Minister of External Affairs.
