rafale deal

Dassault Aviation from France has presented its proposal for acquiring 114 Rafale jets, aimed at strengthening India’s fighter fleet and addressing existing capability shortcomings. This initiative prioritizes significant local production and the transfer of technology to India. With a unified force of 176 Rafale aircraft, both the Indian Air Force and Navy will collaborate, enhancing India's domestic aerospace manufacturing and supporting indigenous defense projects.

That India will manufacture 94 of the 114 Rafales to be inducted into IAF, is a boost for indigenous efforts to produce a fifth-generation military aircraft

Dassault Aviation submitted its proposal for 114 Rafale fighter jets to India. This acquisition will significantly expand India's combat aircraft fleet and deepen cooperation. The deal includes local production and extensive technology transfer under an intergovernmental agreement. India seeks 18 fly-away aircraft and 96 to be assembled domestically. This acquisition will raise India's Rafale strength to 176 aircraft.

India and France have elevated their partnership to a Special Global Strategic Partnership. This collaboration focuses on deeper technological and defense cooperation between the nations. Recent agreements include additional Rafale fighter procurement and potential FCAS participation. The relationship has evolved from buyer-seller to co-development and co-production. This partnership aims to build shared industrial and technological capabilities together.

"The deal to buy 36 state-of-the-art Rafale aircraft from France at 12 billion dollar (Rs 80000 cr) was re-negotiated and finalised at $8.8 billion (around Rs 59000 cr)," a tweet by BJP said.

The government rejected on Wednesday Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s demand for a JPC on the rafale deal, with finance minister Arun Jaitley hitting out at the opposition leader, saying a parliamentary probe cannot be set up to satisfy the ego of “an ill-informed gentleman”.

Ruling out referring the rafale deal to a parliamentary panel, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday launched a blistering attack on the Congress, calling it "bad losers" and said the CAG's view of the deal is not relevant after the Supreme Court's clean chit.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released a video "rafale deal for dummies" to take a dig at Congress charges on the rafale deal. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been persistent in his attack over the rafale deal and the secrecy maintained over the same by the BJP government. The video attempts to explain the rafale deal and in the process mock at the charges levelled against the pact.

Gadkari's remarks came a day after the Congress accused the Narendra Modi government of "compromising" on national security and causing a loss of Rs 12,632 crore to the state exchequer on account of purchase of 36 Rafale jets under the inter-governmental deal.

The development comes nearly four months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande signed a memorandum of agreement to purchase 36 Rafale combat jets.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has issued a notice under rule 357 to speak on the rafale deal in Parliament today, reported Times Now. His party has long demanded answers on the inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 for the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets.

Accusing Rahul Gandhi of crossing the limits of civility by linking the rafale deal with infighting among the top two in the CBI and the prime minister, BJP on Thursday said the Congress president’s claims would not wash as his deceitful and misleading arguments had no basis in fact.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday reiterated his allegations of corruption in the Rafale defence deal signed with the French government and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a debate over the details of the deal.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday rejected finance minister Arun Jaitley's argument against a JPC probe into the rafale deal, saying the government and Parliament have overruled Supreme Court verdicts in the past, most recently in the SC/ST Act.

A day after the BJP claimed the deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets had been "finalized", with the Modi government managing to save over Rs 21,000 crore in the "re-negotiation" with the French government, defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday virtually rubbished the statement.

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hit back at Gandhi after the Congress president alleged that there was "clear-cut" corruption in the rafale deal and asked the prime minister to clear his position on the issue. He also ruled out a joint parliamentary committee probe saying it cannot be done to satisfy the ego of an "ill-informed leader".

IAF chief Air Chief Marshal A P Singh is in France for a four-day visit to advance the rafale deal, following the Defence Ministry's issuance of a Letter of Request for 114 multirole fighter jets. The estimated Rs 3.