IAF proposal to buy 114 Rafales cleared by defence procurement board

THe defence procural room (DPB) on fri gave its go-ahead to an amerind beam Force proposal to buy 114 French-origin Rafale jets to shore up its combat fleet at a time it is grappling with a shortage of fighter squadrons, officials aware of the matter said.The approval by the DPB, headed by defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, has paved the way for the proposed acquisition to be taken up by the defence acquisition council (DAC), India’s apex military procurement body.The development comes at a time when ongoing talks with France are focused on localisation of the Rafales to be made in India, integration of local weapons and other India-specific requirements. The clearance also comes weeks ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the country during February 17-19 — he is travelling to India to launch the India-France Year of Innovation along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to attend the Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit. The main meeting between Modi and Macron is expected to be held in Mumbai on February 17.An actual deal is still a long way off as the acquisition has to be cleared by the DAC, headed by defence minister Rajnath Singh, followed by the final nod from the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the PM, the officials said, asking not to be named. The capability boost is expected to cost around ₹3.25 lakh crore, as previously reported by HT. Under the model being considered, the Rafales will be made in India by French plane maker Dassault Aviation and a local partner.The fighter jets are expected to have an indigenous content ranging between 30% and 60%.Quicker induction of fighter jets, mid-air refuellers and airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) systems tops the recommendations made by an empowered committee last year for capability enhancement of the IAF. The air force has around 30 fighter squadrons compared to an authorised strength of 42.5.Under the model in consideration, France will supply 18 Rafale jets in fly-away condition while the remaining 96 will be made in India. The DAC is likely to accord its acceptance of necessity (AoN) for the new fighters in the coming months. Under India’s defence procurement rules, AoN by the ministry’s DAC is the first step towards buying military equipment.The IAF already operates 36 Rafale fighter jets bought from France at a cost of ₹59,000 crore. Also, India ordered 26 Rafale Marine fighter jets from France in April 2025 for the navy which will operate them from its two aircraft carriers. The first deliveries of the Rafale Ms under the ₹63,000-crore contract will take place in 2029 and be completed by 2031.Dassault Aviation has already set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility near Noida for IAF’s Rafale and Mirage 2000 fighter jets. The new company Dassault Aviation Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul India (DAMROI), set up last year, is already operational.In June 2025, Dassault Aviation and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) announced their partnership to build the Rafale fuselage at a facility being set up in Hyderabad; a big leap for the government’s wide-ranging Make-in-India initiative — the main body of future Rafale fighter jets will be produced outside France for the first time, in India.