Rafale Deliveries To India To Begin In 2016

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Wednesday said that France is hoping to make its first deliveries of the Rafale fighter aircraft to India between 2016 -2017.

Financial daily Les Echos reported that France's draft defence budget was based on an assumption that the first deliveries of the Dassault Aviation-built fighters would start in 2016.

Le Drian is expected to visit New Delhi soon to conclude the Indian MMRCA contract, the report added.

The deal has stalled been due to a disagreement over HAL’s role in the MMRCA project.  Dassault was expected to provide 18 Rafale fighter jets in "fly-away" condition while state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited  or HAL was expected to manufacture the rest in India.

Dassault is now pushing for two separate contracts to be signed - one for the ready-made jets, and another for the rest to be built by HAL; a proposal rejected by India.

The French aircraft-makers has reportedly expressed concerns about whether HAL has the capacity and capability to assemble the aircraft and therefore wants to rope in other private Indian firms to manufacture the jets.

In 2012, India awarded Rafale the $15 billion MMRCA contract, one of the world’s largest defense deals, after an aggressively contested bidding war with rival manufacturers.