India to buy 36 French-manufactured ready-to-fly fighter jets
The announcement was made on Friday evening after a meeting with President of France Francois Hollande in Paris.
"I asked the President to supply us with 36 Rafale jet fighter planes, the ready-to-fly models," the Prime Minister said at a joint press conference.
He said terms and conditions of the contract have yet to be finalised and officials from both sides would work out the details.
Reports said the original plan was for India to buy 18 off-the-shelf jets from France's Dassault Aviation, with 108 others being assembled in India by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited or HAL in Bengaluru.
If negotiations work out, India would buy 144 aircraft, 18 more than the original 126, of which 108 jets will be assembled at home.
"The French President has supported Make In India. It is not a project, it is a thought," Modi said.
"France has always been a reliable supplier for India from jet fighters to submarines," the Prime Minister said.
India's move to purchase the jets is aimed at giving the air force two squadrons of the jets that it needs to upgrade its ageing fleet.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
