India Ends MMRCA Deal and Will Only Buy 36 Rafales To France

India's defence minister has said Delhi will not buy more than the 36 Dassault Rafales to which it committed in April.
The announcement confirms the end of the MMRCA tender and the government's commitment to the Tejas LCA programme
India will neither licence-build additional Dassault Rafale fighters nor acquire more than the 36 it recently agreed to buy in flyaway condition.
The money India had saved by acquiring 90 fewer Rafales would be diverted to buying 200-odd indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).
The LCA will replace 10 to 12 MiG-21 and MiG-27 squadrons to be retired from 2022.
India had been in negotiations with Dassault since 2012 to acquire 126 Rafales.
Of these, 18 were to have been bought off the shelf and 108 licence-built by Hindustan Aeronautics.
janes