India and France today decided to set up teams to work out details of the acquisition of 36 Rafale fighter jets in fly-away condition in a “time bound manner”.
The decision came following a meeting between the visiting French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his counterpart here Manohar Parrikar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last month announced India’s intention to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France under a government-to-government deal during his trip to the country.
As a follow-up on the subject, Drian and Parrikar met here to decide on the way forward.
“The two Defence Ministers discussed modalities in order to reach an early conclusion of an Inter-Governmental agreement on the subject. The two sides decided to set up teams to work out the details in a time-bound manner,” a short statement by the Defence Ministry said.
French defence major Dassault Aviation, manufacturer of Rafale, is likely to enter into a joint venture with state-run HAL or any private player to set up a base here for augmenting its existing production line in Merignac in France, defence sources had said.
The deal is estimated to be over $6 billion and will have about 30-50 per cent offset.