A French navy Rafale (M). (Photo: French navy)
New Delhi: France has officially submitted its bid in response to India’s tender for 26 Dassault Aviation’s Rafale (Marine) fighters for the Indian Navy’s two aircraft carriers – INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant. The deal is estimated to be worth around ₹50,000 crore.
According to sources in the defence establishment, a French team visited India to submit the detailed bid to the Indian tender for the fighter jets.
Now, the Indian government will carry out a detailed study of the bid before starting negotiations over price and other details, because it is going to be a direct government-to-government deal. According to sources in the defence establishment, the Navy chief has already directed the officials to ensure that the timeframe required for the project is kept as short as possible for the induction of the fighters in service as soon as the government finalizes the deal.
Earlier, India purchased 36 Rafale fighters for the Indian Air Force by the same process after junking the medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA) competition process for 127 medium warplanes, which Rafale had won. Dassault Aviation, the makers of the Rafale jets, already delivered all the 36 fighters to the IAF within allocated time.
The Navy is seeking to do away with the Russian-origin MiG-29K jets currently in operation on the two aircraft carriers as the fighter has serious reliability and serviceability issues. However, as India Sentinels had reported in August 2022, the Navy’s then-vice-chief, Vice Admiral SN Ghormade, had said the imported jets would serve as an “interim” replacement for the MiG-29K as the force’s ultimate objective is to deploy the indigenous TEDBF (Twin Engine Deck-Based Fighter) fighter aircraft on the carriers.
The TEDBF is currently being designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). It will be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). According to reports, the TEDBF’s first flight is expected in 2026.
It may be mentioned that along with Dassault Aviation’s Rafale (Marine), which is also called Rafale (M), Boeing Defense’s F/A-18 Super Hornet was also in the fray to bag the Navy’s carrier-based fighter contract. However, Dassault won the bid due to a range of reasons, including the IAF operating a similar version of the warplane being a factor.
