New Delhi: India and France have agreed on the modalities for the procurement of the 114 Rafale F4* fighters for the Indian Air Force (IAF), official formalities for which will be completed by end of 2026 or early 2027, ThePrint has learnt.
The proposed project, which will cost about Rs 3.25 lakh crore, would entail procurement of 18 aircraft in fly away condition and the rest manufactured in India with up to 60 percent indigenous content, achieved in phases just like the C-295 transport aircraft. The Tejas aircraft currently has an indigenous content of 62 percent.
The contract will also have the option to upgrade the Indian Rafale to F5 version as and when it comes. Existing Rafale aircraft with the IAF will also be upgraded to the F4 version as part of the contract.
The F4 standard focuses on improving the connectivity of the Rafale through new satellite and intra-flight links, communications servers, and software radios, improving its effectiveness in net-centric combat and paving the way for the Future Combat Air System (FCAS).
The Rafale in service with India is the F3-R plus version, all of which will be upgraded to the latest standard, sources in the defence establishment told ThePrint. The IAF’s Rafale has 13 India-specific enhancements, a notch above the F3 variants.
The sources said that final costing and other details will be worked out formally once the project gets the Acceptance of Necessity (AON) and subsequent formalities are completed. They added that there was a recent high-ranking meeting between Indian and French sides where the broad contours of the deal were finalised.
If the deal is signed early 2027, the delivery of the first 18 in fly away condition will start from 2030 onwards.
The sources said that an announcement on intention to procure more Rafale could be made during the visit of French President Emanuel Macron next month, just like it was done during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France in 2015. The contract was only signed late 2016 after negotiations and formalities were completed.
They said that in the current case, contract signing will be sped up since the broad contours have already been agreed to and formal processes have to be completed.
It is learnt that the final assembly line for the Rafales will come up at the Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DRAL) Nagpur facility, which is now a subsidiary of the French aviation major Dassault Aviation that manufactures the fighter.
In September last year, Dassault Aviation acquired the majority stake in the joint venture. It is learnt that Anil Ambani-led Reliance, could sell its minority stake to another Indian company following which DRAL would be renamed if the plans move ahead.
Multiple Indian companies like TATA, Mahindra, Dynamatic Technologies Limited along with over 3 dozen other firms are expected to be part of the Rafale project. TATA has already been contracted for manufacturing the fuselage for the Rafale which will go into foreign orders at this moment.
It is also learnt that the Final Assembly Line (FAL) will eventually cater to Rafale’s global demand and will act as the second manufacturing hub of the French aviation major.
The sources said that the overall Indian numbers could go up with time. Dassault Aviation has a capacity to produce 25 aircraft per year, which is being planned to increase to 50. The Indian FAL will have a capacity of 24 aircraft per year.
As of 31 December, 2025, Dassault Aviation has a backlog of 220 Rafale (175 Export, 45 France) in comparison to 220 Rafale (164 Export, 56 France) in the same date previous year.
The sources said that while Dassault is manufacturing the Rafale F4 version, India is going with certain upgrades to the Spectra electronic warfare system and the version will be known as F4 Star or F4*.
ThePrint was the first to report in April last year that the Indian government has decided to go in for 114 Rafale for the IAF and formal process will start later that year.
In the second half of 2025, the IAF formally moved a proposal to acquire the Rafale following which discussions happened at the Defence Ministry level and at government-to-government level.
ThePrint reported in September that the Rafale contract is being planned to be signed in 2026. At that time, the cost was estimated at about Rs 2 lakh crore. This figure now stands at Rs 3.25 lakh crore.
Dassault Aviation is already setting up a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Facility (MRO) in India, as reported, and have committed to making India as a Rafale manufacturing and maintenance hub besides the facilities in France.
India will emerge as the largest operators of the Rafale aircraft outside of France. In 2016, the country bought 36 Rafale and ordered 26 Rafale Marine aircraft for the Navy last year
(Edited by Tony Rai)