India and France have signed the Rafale deal after months of negotiations. India will buy 36 Rafale jets from France for a price of 7.8 billion Euros, according to NDTV.
Agency reports state India and France have not yet signed the deal, but are close to finalising it. IANS sources said that an agreement on the price may be reached soon.
The price had been a major sticking point in the deal with India trying to bring it down for the fighter jet known to be one of the most expensive in the world.
France has sold 24 Rafale jets to Egypt at 5.2 billion euros, and has not agreed to lower the price for India.
While it was not revealed if an agreement has been struck on how much India would pay, attempts had been on to bring the price down to under 8 billion euros or Rs.6,000 crore for a complement of 36 Rafale fighters.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in March that India was trying to get a “good deal” on Rafale.
Rafale is a multi-role twin-engine aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation of France. The initial plans were, however, to buy 126 Rafale jets, a deal which could not fructify. After that, a government to government contract was signed for India to buy 36 jets off the shelf.
The Indian Air Force at present has 33 operational squadrons, against a sanctioned strength of 39.5.
The IAF is also eagerly awaiting the delivery of its first squadron of indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft.
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