- By Kamakshi Bishnoi
- Mon, 01 Jun 2026 09:51 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
India has officially started the procedure for buying 114 Rafale fighter jets from France, under a government-to-government (G2G) basis; it is among the biggest defence acquisition programmes of India. The estimated deal is worth approximately Rs 3.25 lakh crore.
Defence Ministry sources claim that the Acquisition wing of the Ministry has recently sent the Letter of Request (LoR) to the French government to start the acquisition process, while the answer from France will come in the next 2 to 3 months, and the agreement is likely to be signed in the coming year or so after having a detailed negotiation.
Part of IAF's MRFA Programme
The new aircraft deal is an answer to the declining squadron strength of the Indian Air Force under the MRFA programme. Presently, India has a depleting fighter squadron count of 29 squadrons as against its mandated strength of 42.5 squadrons.
Under the previous agreement of 2016, 36 Rafale fighter jets were acquired from the French government and this new deal is also of the same type but there is a twist in the tail of the new deal that most of the aircrafts will be manufactured in India, the only part that will be supplied directly by France will be around 4 to 8 aircrafts of the total purchase of 114 aircrafts.
Over 90 Jets To Be Built Domestically
Approximately 90 to 94 aircraft are planned to be manufactured in the country through a collaboration between the French company Dassault Aviation and an Indian partner company, while the remaining aircraft will come directly from France.
Defense authorities have stated that it will give almost 50 per cent of localisation of the whole program making it a historic event for the Rafale project and also provides a bigger room for India to place indigenous weapon and systems in to the Rafale platform, officials have confirmed that it is purely a G2G deal with no agents in between to be held transparently, and will promote make in India program.