India may buy 26 French Rafale M fighter jets this week to replace Russian MiG-29 jets

The Indian Navy is gearing up to buy new deck fighters. The contract for the purchase of French Rafale M jets may be signed in 1-2 days.

Here's What We Know

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit France tomorrow, 13 July. It is expected that during the two-day visit he will sign a contract for the purchase of 26 deck fighters Rafale M. Information that India wants to order French aircraft instead of American F/A-18 Super Hornet, appeared in December last year.

The naval forces of the Asian country want to receive single-seat aircraft. 18 fighters will be part of the strike group of the new aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, while the rest will go to the airbase and be used for pilot training.

The Rafale M will be a replacement for the MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB fighters. In recent years, Russian aircraft have had problems related to maintainability. In future, India wants to have its own (fifth generation) fighter aircraft. It is being developed under the Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) programme.

Meanwhile, France itself is considering abandoning the Rafale M, which carries ASMP-A missiles with nuclear warheads. The reason is the low effectiveness of the deck-based fighters. The aircraft rarely fly and launch missiles, but require high maintenance investment.

Source: Scramble