India to buy 60-63 Rafales jets off the shelf from France; MMRCA deal off: sources

April 10, 2015 08:47

Noted Strategic Affairs expert Nitin Gokhale says quoting highly-placed sources: India is likely to buy about 60 Rafale combat jets from Dassault Aviation instead of 126 aircraft proposed in the original request for proposal meant to be procured in under the process that began some eight years ago.

The decision to buy nearly three and a half squadrons (between 60-63 aircraft) of Rafale jets for the Indian Air Force was taken at the highest political level hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on his three-nation tour on Thursday, the sources added.

Given the huge financial and operational implication, the government thought it prudent to take a strategic decision rather than leave it to a bureaucratic process. The French are likely to be told of this decision by the Prime Minister himself when he meets President Francois Hollande in Paris on Friday.

Under the new proposal, the entire process for procuring 126 combat jets would be scrapped, sources revealed.

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