Monday, 19 May, 2025
The agreement comes amid heightened regional tensions and reflects India's continued push to modernise its defence forces through strategic partnerships. Image Source: Business Standard
The Rafale-M, a versatile 4.5-generation fighter aircraft, will bring significant firepower to the Indian Navy, with the added capability of delivering nuclear weapons.
In a major boost to India’s naval aviation capabilities, New Delhi and Paris on Monday inked a ₹63,000 crore agreement for the acquisition of 26 Rafale Marine fighter jets for the Indian Navy. The deal was signed during a high-level meeting attended by Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, with Vice Chief of Naval Staff Admiral K. Swaminathan also present.
Cleared earlier this month by the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government-to-government deal covers 22 single-seat Rafale-M jets and four twin-seat trainer aircraft. The contract includes a weapons package, simulators, crew training, and a five-year performance-based logistics support plan. The new fleet is expected to significantly enhance the Indian Navy’s maritime strike and air defence capabilities, with the jets primarily operating from the indigenously built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. Deliveries will take place over a span of 37 to 65 months, with India scheduled to pay an initial 15% of the total cost upfront.
The agreement comes amid heightened regional tensions and reflects India's continued push to modernise its defence forces through strategic partnerships.
The Rafale-M, a versatile 4.5-generation fighter aircraft, will bring significant firepower to the Indian Navy, with the added capability of delivering nuclear weapons. Equipped with cutting-edge weaponry, the naval variant of the Rafale will carry the 70-km range Exocet AM39 anti-ship missiles, along with advanced long-range precision strike systems similar to those used by the Indian Air Force.
These include the over 300-km range 'Scalp' air-to-ground cruise missiles and the state-of-the-art Meteor air-to-air missiles, known for their ability to engage enemy aircraft at ranges of 120 to 150 km. The Rafale-M emerged as the preferred choice over the American F/A-18 Super Hornet following rigorous trials conducted by the Indian Navy in 2022. The French fighter had an advantage in terms of logistics, maintenance, and parts commonality, thanks to the Indian Air Force’s prior induction of 36 Rafale jets.
Currently, the Navy operates only 40 of the originally acquired 45 Russian-origin MiG-29K jets, procured for around $2 billion since 2009. These fighters are deployed on the Navy’s two aircraft carriers , the refurbished INS Vikramaditya and the indigenous INS Vikrant. The arrival of Rafale-Ms is expected to fill critical capability gaps as India modernises its carrier-based air fleet.
France has put forward a proposal to manufacture Rafale fighter jets in India by establishing a new production line, marking a significant step toward deeper defence collaboration. However, the ambitious plan hinges on securing a larger order from India, with the French side suggesting an order book of around 100 aircraft to ensure the project’s economic viability.
The Indian Air Force has projected a requirement for 114 fighter jets of the same class. While the proposal aligns with India’s push for indigenous defence manufacturing under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the government is expected to pursue a global competitive bidding process for the larger acquisition. The outcome could reshape India’s fighter jet procurement strategy, balancing strategic partnerships with cost, capability, and self-reliance goals.
Along with importing Rafale marine fighter jets for the Indian Navy, India has also been focusing on providing a boost to the domestic defence production. India's defence sector has experienced rapid growth since the launch of the "Make in India" initiative, achieving a record ₹1.27 lakh crore in defence production during FY 2023-24. Once heavily reliant on foreign suppliers, India is now emerging as a formidable force in indigenous defence manufacturing, strengthening its military capabilities with homegrown technologies.
India’s Defence production (INR Crore)
Source: Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence
Strategic policies have been crucial in accelerating this progress, promoting private sector involvement, fostering technological innovation, and advancing the creation of sophisticated military platforms. The significant increase in the defence budget rising from ₹2.53 lakh crore in 2013-14 to ₹6.81 lakh crore in 2025-26 underscores the nation's unwavering commitment to bolstering its military infrastructure.
With state-of-the-art warships, fighter jets, artillery systems, and other advanced weaponry now being manufactured domestically, India is increasingly asserting itself as a major player in the global defence manufacturing arena. In the financial year 2023-24, approximately 79.2 percent of India's total defence production value came from Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and other public sector units (PSUs), while the private sector contributed the remaining 20.8 percent. This data highlights a steady increase in defence output from both the private sector and DPSUs/PSUs, with the sector as a whole being praised by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for achieving record production levels.
Looking ahead, the government aims to nearly quadruple India's annual defence output to ₹3 lakh crore by 2028-2029, while more than doubling defence exports from the current ₹21,083 crore to ₹50,000 crore. For the fiscal year 2024-2025, the target for total defence output is ₹1.75 lakh crore, including ₹35,000 crore in exports.
Apart from this, the Government of India has taken a number of steps to provide a boost to the indigenous defence production. Launched in April 2018, the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative has fostered a dynamic ecosystem for innovation and technology development in India’s defence and aerospace sectors. By collaborating with MSMEs, startups, individual innovators, research institutions, and academia, iDEX has provided grants of up to ₹1.5 crore to support the creation of cutting-edge technologies. To further boost self-reliance in defence technology, the government has allocated ₹449.62 crore to iDEX for the 2025-26 financial year, including funding for its sub-scheme, Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with iDEX (ADITI).
The Department of Defence Production (DDP) and the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) have released five Positive Indigenisation Lists (PILs) covering a range of items, including LRUs, assemblies, sub-assemblies, sub-systems, spares, components, and high-end materials. These lists establish clear timelines for when procurement will be restricted to domestic manufacturers. As of February 2025, more than 3,000 of the over 5,500 listed items have been successfully indigenised. Notable technologies that have been developed domestically include artillery guns, assault rifles, corvettes, sonar systems, transport aircraft, light combat helicopters (LCHs), radars, wheeled armoured platforms, rockets, bombs, armoured command post vehicles, and armoured dozers.
To enhance defence manufacturing, two Defence Industrial Corridors (DICs) have been established in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, offering incentives to companies investing in the sector. Investments exceeding ₹8,658 crore have already been made across the six nodes in Uttar Pradesh- Agra, Aligarh, Chitrakoot, Jhansi, Kanpur, and Lucknow and the five nodes in Tamil Nadu- Chennai, Coimbatore, Hosur, Salem, and Tiruchirappalli. As of February 2025, 253 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed, promising a potential investment of ₹53,439 crore.
