India's plan to procure 114 Rafale fighter jets from French defence major Dassault Aviation was discussed during the recent meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron.
There was particular focus on having "maximum local content" in joint defence projects during the talks. The two leaders expressed satisfaction over the growth in bilateral defence collaboration across all domains and agreed to further intensify it with a focus on co-design, co-development and co-production of defence platforms and advanced technologies.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, while briefing the media about the interaction between the two state heads, said talks between India and France on the Rafale fighter jet programme have advanced, and India has been pushing for greater local content and local manufacturing in defence cooperation.
"There were talks on Rafale and other issues in today's discussions, but I will say the underlying theme was that in case of any defence platform we will move forward on the basis that there should be maximum local content, local manufacturing and our cooperation should be designed keeping this in mind," Misri has been quoted as saying.
He said Modi has been pushing for taking forward the "Make in India" initiative as well as a framework of "co-development, co-design, co-production" in defence projects.
A few weeks ago, reports had said the acquisition wing of the defence ministry had issued a letter of request to the French government, initiating the government-to-government process for the procurement of the fighter jets under the Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) programme. The French side is expected to respond in the next few weeks. The agreement is likely to be finalised within a year, according to an ANI report.
Under the proposed deal, as many as 94 aircraft will be made in India through a partnership between Dassault Aviation and an Indian company.
