India to join elite club; Biggest-ever arms deal on cards

NEW DELHI: India is all set to sign one of the country’s largest arms deals. The Home Ministry is signing a deal worth Rs 3.25 lakh crore. With this, 114 French-made Rafale fighter jets will be part of the Indian Air Force. The deal is being finalised ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to India.

The deal also includes a provision for manufacturing about 100 fighter jets in India. Once the deal is finalised, India will become one of the largest non-French operators of Rafale. India currently has 36 Rafale aircraft. The Dassault Rafale C version of Rafale arrived in India by December 2024. The army is also placing an order for 26 new M versions. This is a deal worth Rs 63,000 crore. The M version will be deployed on INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya.

In June last year, France's Dassault Aviation and India's Tata Advanced Systems Limited announced four major production transfer agreements. These agreements will speed up the delivery of Rafales to the Indian Army. There are also reports that Tata Advanced Systems will set up a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Hyderabad to manufacture the Rafale's key components. The final assembly will be done at Dassault Aviation.