Two mega defence deals with France await clearance by Cabinet Committee on Security

India awaits final approval for $11 billion defence deals with France, including Rafale-M jets and Scorpene submarines.

Two mega defence deals with France — for 26 Rafale-M fighter jets and three more Scorpene-class conventional submarines — worth close to $11 billion are now awaiting final approval by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) before their anticipated conclusion very soon.

The Indian Navy will get to see up close the performance of the Rafale-M jets on the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle as the carrier strike group currently in the Indian Ocean is scheduled to visit Goa next week for the bilateral Varuna exercise.

“All formalities have been completed and the case has been put up to the CCS for couple of weeks now,” officials confirmed on the deal for 26 Rafale-M jets. “Negotiations were done weeks back,” an official stated. The Navy has been very keen that both deals be inked in this financial year ending March 31 so they are included in this year’s budget.

The Rafale-M deal is expected to be concluded in April when the French Defence Minister is expected to visit India. As reported by The Hindu earlier, deliveries of the Rafale-M for the Indian Navy would begin in four years once the contract is signed. Officials said that given that it is a government-to-government deal, funds earmarked in this fiscal budget can be rolled over to the next.

Sources stated that the Scorpene deal is also complete in all respects. It is a follow-up to the earlier deal for six Scorpene submarines procured under Project-75 between Naval Group of France and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL).

If the deal is concluded next month, the Indian navy would begin receiving from 2029 both the Rafale-M jets and also the MQ-9B, an unmanned aerial vehicle with high altitude and long endurance features, contracted from the U.S.

On July 13, 2023 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was enroute to Paris, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for the procurement of 26 Rafale-M fighters and three additional Scorpene-class diesel-electric submarines.