France Submits Response To India's Tender For 26 Rafale Marine Jets; Negotiations Start

New Rafale Deal:  France has submitted a formal response to India's tender for buying 26 Rafale Marine jets intended for deployment on the Indian Navy's aircraft carriers, INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya. The submission of France's response to India's Letter of Acceptance took place in New Delhi, where a delegation of French government officials specialising in military sales to foreign nations presented the documents, reported news agency ANI quoting sources.

Following this submission, the Indian side is set to conduct a detailed study of the French bid, including the commercial proposal or price for the aircraft and other contractual details. The negotiation phase will involve discussions between Indian and French government officials, given that the procurement process comes under a government-to-government contract framework.

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India will now negotiate the deal with French government officials, as it is a government-to-government contract. The Navy Chief has directed the officials to ensure that the timeframe required for the project is squeezed significantly to ensure early finalisation and induction of the planes in the inventory.

More than a month ago, India delivered the Letter of Request to the French government. The LoR is like a tender document in which the Indian government has specified all its requirements and capabilities that it would want to have in the Rafale Marine aircraft being acquired for the aircraft carriers INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya, they said.

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The Indian Navy and the Indian government are working in a fast-track mode to ensure that the acquisition contract is signed at the earliest and Indian carriers can operate the highly capable aircraft to ensure an edge for New Delhi in the Indian Ocean region.

The aircraft deal worth around Euro 5.5 billion was cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council just before the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to France as the state guest for their Bastille Day parade this year in July. As per the plans, the Indian Navy will get 22 single-seated Rafale Marine aircraft along with four trainer aircraft.

(With ANI inputs)