Rafale deal cleared, to be signed on Friday

Defence sources said that deal for the aircraft, the first fighter jet deal in 20 years, comes with a saving of nearly 750 million Euros than the UPA era one, which was scrapped by the Narendra Modi government, besides a 50 per cent offset clause.

This means business worth at least three billion Euros for Indian companies, both big and small, and generating hundreds of jobs in India through offsets.

The Rafale fighter jets, deliveries of which will start in 36 months and finished in 66 months from the date contract is inked, comes equipped with state-of-the-art missiles like Meteor and Scalp that will give the IAF a capability that had been sorely missing in its arsenal.

Sources said the government today formally cleared the Inter Governmental Agreement to be signed on Friday in the presence of Drian who arrives tomorrow evening along with CEOs of Dassault Aviation, Thales and MBDA and top government officials.

The contract for the deal was already cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security earlier. The price of the contract was fixed in May, sources said.

Sources said the “vanila price” (just the 36 aircraft) is about 3.42 billion Euros.