The Indian Ministry of Defense has tentatively approved the purchase of 114 French Rafale fighters from Dassault Aviation for $39 billion, according to CNBC and AeroTime. The decision was made ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to the country on February 17.
18 aircraft will be delivered directly from the Dassault factory, and the remaining 96 will be produced in India under license. The new fighters should close a critical shortage of aircraft: the Indian Air Force has only 29 squadrons with a minimum requirement of 42.
Rafale fighters were used by India in the recent conflict with Pakistan — one aircraft was lost in a battle with Chinese J-10s, but this did not affect New Delhi's decision to make a new purchase.
Earlier, India refused to license the production of Russian Su-35 generation 4++ fighters. According to Military Watch Magazine, the country considered the technological gap between the Su-35 and the already in service Su-30MKI insufficient for such large investments. Instead of purchasing new aircraft, it is planned to deeply modernize the existing Su-30MKI fleet and accelerate the implementation program for the fifth-generation Su-57 fighters.
As CNBC notes, India also intends to modernize Soviet-made T-72 tanks and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles.