India Will Buy 36 Rafale Jets in Fly-Away Condition From France, Says PM Modi

"I asked the President to supply us with 36 Rafale jet fighter planes, the ready-to-fly models," the Prime Minister said at a joint news conference.

He said terms and conditions of the contract have yet to be finalised and officials from both sides would work out the details.

The original plan was for India to buy 18 off-the-shelf jets from France's Dassault Aviation, with 108 others being assembled in India by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited or HAL in Bengaluru.

Sources said if negotiations work out, India would buy 144 aircraft, 18 more than the original 126, ensuring that 108 jets will still be assembled at home.  

The Modi government, the sources said, will not give up its Make In India push to promote manufacturing at home and to build a domestic military-industrial base. "The French President has supported Make In India.  It is not a project, it is a thought," PM Modi said.

"France has always been a reliable supplier for India from jet fighters to submarines," the Prime Minister said.

India is ordering the 36 off-the shelf Rafale fighters to speed up the purchase and immediately give the air force two squardons of the jets that it desperately needs to upgrade its ageing fleet, sources said.

For three years, the Rafale deal has been mired in extensive negotiations. Dassault has been reluctant to provide guarantees for the aircraft that are produced in India.

The Rafale was chosen in 2012 over rival offers from the United States, Europe and Russia.

The original proposal for 126 fighter jets was worth at least 12 billion dollars.