India and France are likely to sign a contract for over 26 Rafale-M fighter jets for Indian Navy's indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant in March 2023 when President Macron is likely to visit New Delhi, according to a report published in LA TRIBUNE. However, there is no official confirmation from either side about the exact dates for Macron's visit.
The report further claimed that Indian officials are working on the formalities for signing an agreement between the two sides. Interestingly, the year 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of the strategic partnership between India and France.
The French Navy currently has 240 Rafale M jets. Dassault started manufacturing these jets from the year 1986.
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Indian Navy had evaluated both French Dassault Aviation’s Rafale-M and the US-based Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet last year for INS-Vikrant. According to some media reports, the Indian Navy, in its report to the defence ministry, had said that Rafale-M is more suitable in meeting the operational requirements and criteria than F/A-18 Super Hornets.
News agency PTI has also reported that French fighter Rafale-M has emerged as the front-runner, ahead of the American F/A-18 Super Hornet, in the multi-billion dollar contract to supply 26 deck-based jets to the Indian Navy.
On 2 September 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned India's first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. With this, India entered a select league of countries with the domestic capability to build such large warships.
As on today, Indian Navy has two aircraft carriers- INS Vikramaditya (A Kyiv class aircraft carrier of the Soviet Union) and INS Vikrant (India's first indigenous aircraft carrier).
