The Indian Air Force's proposal for purchase of 114 more Rafale fighter jets will be brought before the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) ahead of the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron.

As per the proposal, India will purchase 18 off-the-shelf Rafales from French manufacturer Dassault Aviation. (AFP)Macron is scheduled to visit India for an AI Summit in New Delhi from February 15 to 17.

The DAC is headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

As per the proposal, India will purchase 18 off-the-shelf Rafales from French manufacturer Dassault Aviation, while the remaining 96 fighter jets will be made in partnership with private sector companies in India. A number of these jets would be twin-seater aircraft to be used for training.

The council is expected to accord Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) to the IAF for the acquisition of 114 Rafale multi-role fighter aircraft. Under India’s defence procurement rules, AoN from the council is the first formal step in the acquisition process. The approval from the Defence Procurement Board has already been granted.

After the DAC's nod, commercial negotiation is the next step; and then the plan will need clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Officials had earlier told Hindustan Times that the overall capability boost from the proposed 114-aircraft acquisition could cost around ₹3.25 lakh crore.

India already has 36 Rafale fighter jets, which were also deployed during Operation Sindoor against Pakistan. They were among the fighters which played a key role in India's strikes on terror and military installations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir following the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed.

Rafale jets are equipped with advanced weapons systems including Scalp missiles, Meteor air-to-air missiles and Hammer precision-guided bombs.

During Operation Sindoor, these weapons not only destroyed terror bases in Pakistan but also Pakistani aircrafts.

Last October, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh made a strong case for faster induction of new military hardware into the air force, including fighter jets.

He said the Rafale was one of the options to strengthen the IAF’s combat fleet, while underlining the requirement for 114 multi-role fighter aircraft to be manufactured in India through a partnership between a foreign original equipment manufacturer and an Indian company.

The proposal is coming before DAC after it was given the green signal by the Defence Procurement Board last month. The DPB is headed by defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh.

Author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (2011, Hachette) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (2014, Hachette). Awarded K Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 by Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) and the 2011 Ben Gurion Prize by Israel.Read More