India will acquire 18 of the 126 Rafale fighter jets it is buying from France in fly condition, and the rest will be locally manufactured by HAL.
The final contract, though, is still far from being signed. India has no money in the current financial year that ends this month, for initial payment. Also, general elections are due by May and the final contract will only be signed by the next government, if it chooses to go ahead on the same terms and conditions.
Dassault Aviation had won the contract to supply 126 Medium, multi-role combat aircraft or MMRCA in 2012.
Dassault has had reservations over HAL's capacity to absorb complex technology and wanted to rope in other private sector companies for manufacturing the jets in India.
defenseworld
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