India and France are inching closer to signing a deal for the Rafale Marine fighter jet, for Indian aircraft Carriers.

France slashes prices of Rafale Marine Fighter jets

India and France are inching closer to signing a deal for French Rafale marine fighter jets vital for Indian Aircraft carriers.

Sources said that after several rounds of meetings and negotiations in the Defence ministry, the price offer has been significantly reduced. The deal would be benchmarked on the 2016 deal for 36 Rafale jets that were acquired for the Air Force.

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Acquisition of the Jets

The acquisition is likely to be discussed by during National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s  visit to Paris this week. Along with this there will be an order for three Kalvari Class submarines to be built in Mumbai.

Reports indicate that, in addition to being compatible with the Air Force fleet, the naval jets will be fitted with anti- ship weaponry and long-range fuel tanks for maritime operations.

They will also feature meteor-beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles, the most advanced in the region.

After evaluating both F/A 18 Super Hornet and Rafale Marine, the Indian Navy chose the latter on technical grounds. Commercial discussions have been going on between India and France for more than a year. The deal has been processed under the government-to-government route, similar to the previous acquisition of Rafale for the Air Force.

The Defence acquisition council, led by Rajnath Singh, approved certain amendments that led to the offering of a final price bid. These included dropping an earlier plan to integrate an Indian radar and weapons on naval jets due to high cost and estimated timeline of eight years for completion.

The Rafale Marine jets are being purchased as a stop gap arrangement until the development of indigenous twin-engine deck based fighters by Aeronautical Development Agency.