In the wake of India’s Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) clearing a long-pending proposal to procure 114 Rafale fighter jets from French defence manufacturer Dassault Aviation to boost the combat readiness of the Indian Air Force, reports have emerged that the Indian Navy may seek an additional order of Rafale Marine fighter jets.
Rafale-Marine (Rafale-M) is a powerful, advanced fighter jet designed to operate from aircraft carriers. Unlike regular fighter jets that take off from land, this aircraft can launch from and land on moving ships, even in tough sea conditions.
For more defence news, views and updates, visit: Fortress India
India signed, in April 2025, an agreement with France to procure 26 Rafale-Marine fighter jets, valued at approximately ₹63,000 crore, including 22 single-seat jets and four twin-seat jets. The Indian Navy would be using these for missions like air defence, maritime strike, reconnaissance, and shore strikes.
According to the French daily La Tribune, India could be looking to procure 31 Rafale Marine fighter jets to be operated from INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya.
The order placed in April 2025 marked the first acquisition of the naval variant of the Rafale, making the country the first international operator of this model. The deal also covers pilot training, flight simulators, weapons, essential equipment, and long-term maintenance support. The defence ministry had then said the acqusition of Rafale-M jets will also improve the Navy’s ability to prevent adversaries from gaining maritime domain awareness, weakening their ability to provide targeting information to other platforms.
ALSO READ: OPINION | Modernising the Indian Air Force: Strategic priorities and implementation framework
If the reports of this upcoming deal for Rafale-M jets are true, it could possibly undermine India's efforts to come up with an indigenous deck-based fighter known as the Twin Engine Deck-Based Fighter (TEDBF) programme.
The TEDBF programme aims to develop a home-grown 4.5-generation carrier-based multirole fighter for the Indian Navy, led by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in collaboration with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Although unconfirmed by the Indian side, if the reports of India seeking more Rafale-M jets are true, there are apprehensions that this could pose a risk to the TEDBF programme, even as the programme is expected to undergo a Critical Design Review (CDR) this year.
