India Clears Dassault's Rafale Fighter Jet Deal
September 21 2016 - 1:20PM
Dow Jones News
NEW DELHI—India on Wednesday cleared the purchase of 36 Rafale
fighter jets from France's Dassault Aviation SA, in a long-delayed
move to modernize and expand its aging fleet of combat
aircraft.
The approval was given by India's Cabinet Committee on Security,
which is headed by the country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said
two senior government officials.
The officials didn't want to be named or disclose the exact
value of the deal which analysts estimate to be in the billions of
dollars.
The Rafale deal marks the culmination of more than four years of
negotiations with the French company. It also caps a recent run of
wins for Dassault after orders for 24 jets each from Egypt and
Qatar last year.
India originally selected Dassault in 2012 over offerings from
Eurofighter, Russia's RAC MiG, Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp.
and Saab AB. At the time, India was the only foreign buyer for the
jet.
The order has been stuck in negotiations with two successive
governments over the cost of the planes, as well as Dassault's
refusal to guarantee the performance and quality of the planes that
were originally to be assembled by India's Hindustan Aeronautics
Ltd.
In April of last year, Mr. Modi's government reduced the size of
the deal to 36 jets from 126, and removed a condition that the
majority of them be assembled in India by the state-run Hindustan
Aeronautics.
India's air force had been urging the government to move quickly
with the deal to replace its dwindling fleet of Soviet-era fighters
as it prepares to face an increasingly assertive China.
India, which has in recent years become the world's largest
importer of weapons, depends on imports from countries like Russia,
the U.S., France and Israel for most of its arms requirements but
placing orders usually takes years.
Write to Santanu Choudhury at santanu.choudhury@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 21, 2016 13:05 ET (17:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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