India to get all 26 Rafale-M jets by 2030 under Rs 63,887 crore deal inked with France | India News

NEW DELHI: India will get its first Rafale-Marine jet in mid-2028 and all 26 by 2030 under the mega Rs 63,887 crore (almost Euro 7 billion) deal inked with France on Monday for the omni-role fighters that will primarily operate from indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant’s deck.
The delivery of nine Rafale-M jets with their decidedly deadly weapons package in 2028, 12 in 2029 and 5 in 2030 will bolster Indian aircraft carrier operations in the Indian Ocean and beyond at a time when China ’s ever-expanding naval forays and hunt for logistical bases in the region have become a clear and present threat, officials told TOI.
“The Rafale-M is a carrier-borne combat-ready aircraft with proven operational capabilities. It will be a potent force multiplier, substantially boosting India’s air power at sea,” an official said.
These omni-role 4.5-generation maritime strike and reconnaissance jets will add to the 36 Rafales, which are also capable of delivering nuclear weapons, already inducted by the IAF under the Rs 59,000 crore contract inked in Sept 2016. They are deployed at the Ambala and Hasimara airbases to cater for the Pakistan and China fronts.

The two major Rafale deals make the French fighter the frontrunner in the long-pending project to manufacture 114 multi-role fighter aircraft (MRFA) with foreign collaboration in India, which was initially estimated to cost Rs 1.25 lakh crore and is now being fast-tracked, as reported by TOI earlier.
Apart from the inter-governmental agreement (IGA) on the Rafale-M jets, inked remotely by defence minister Rajnath Singh and his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu, the aircraft supply protocol with fighter-manufacturer Dassault Aviation and weapons protocol with missile-maker MBDA were also signed here.
The exchange of documents took place in the presence of defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, Navy vice chief Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan and French ambassador Thierry Mathou, among others.
The direct acquisition of 22 single-seater Rafale-M jets and four twin-seater trainers includes training for Indian pilots and technicians, a simulator, associated equipment, weapons and five-year performance-based logistics. It also includes additional equipment for the existing 36 Rafales of the IAF.
The Rafale-M jets will be armed with long-range precision strike weapons like the IAF fighters. In addition to the 70-km range Exocet AM39 anti-ship missiles, they will have the over 300-km range `Scalp’ air-to-ground cruise missiles and the top-notch Meteor air-to-air missiles, which have a strike range of 120 to 150-km to take on enemy jets.
While there is no overall transfer of technology in the deal, the IGA includes the integration of indigenous weapons like the Astra air-to-air missiles and the naval short and medium-range anti-ship missiles (NASMs) being developed by DRDO with the Rafale-M fighters in the future.
It also includes setting up of a production facility for aircraft fuselage as well as MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facilities for engines, sensors and weapons in India. “The Rafale-M’s procurement will substantially enhance joint operational capability, besides optimizing training and logistics for both Navy and IAF,” the official said.
The Navy currently has only 40 of the 45 MiG-29K jets, inducted from Russia at a cost of $2 billion from 2009 onwards, to operate from the decks of its two over 40,000-tonne aircraft carriers, the older Russian-origin INS Vikramaditya and the new indigenous INS Vikrant. Moreover, the MiG-29Ks have also been dogged by poor serviceability and other problems over the years.
China, incidentally, already has three aircraft carriers, the 60,000-tonne Liaoning, the 66,000-tonne Shandong and the over 80,000-tonne Fujian, and is fast building more such warships with nuclear-propulsion.