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India asks Dassault to submit bid for 114 Rafale fighter jets by April-end

February 25, 2026 5 min read Internal Security Economics GS3 (Internal Security Indian Defence Policy Make in India)
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What Happened

  • The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) on 12 February 2026 for the acquisition of 114 Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF), identified as the Rafale, at an estimated cost of ₹3.25 lakh crore.
  • India formally requested Dassault Aviation to submit a comprehensive bid for the 114 aircraft by end-April 2026, focusing negotiations on maximising the Make in India (indigenous) component, which analysis shows is lower than initially projected.
  • Of the 114 jets, 18 will be supplied in fly-away condition from France; the remaining 96 are to be manufactured domestically, with the final assembly line at Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited's (DRAL) facility in Nagpur.
  • Major Indian firms including TATA and Mahindra are expected to be involved; TATA has already been contracted to manufacture the fuselage for the Rafale under the existing 36-jet deal.
  • The target is to sign a contract by end of financial year 2026-27, with first fly-away deliveries expected from 2030 onwards.

Static Topic Bridges

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) and the Defence Procurement Procedure

The DAC is the highest decision-making body in the Ministry of Defence for capital acquisitions. Chaired by the Defence Minister, it accords Acceptance of Necessity (AoN), which is the first formal stage that authorises the procurement process. After AoN, the Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued to vendors, bids are evaluated, and the final proposal is placed before the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for approval before contract signing. The current framework governing all defence procurements is the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020, which replaced the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016.

  • DAP 2020 introduced a new "Buy (Global — Manufacture in India)" category to promote domestic production while allowing foreign OEM participation
  • Categories under DAP 2020 include: Buy (Indian-IDDM), Buy (Indian), Buy (Indian Globally Competitive), Buy & Make (Indian), and Buy (Global-MII)
  • AoN → RFP → Evaluation → CCS Approval → Contract is the standard procurement lifecycle
  • For projects above ₹500 crore, CCS approval is mandatory before contract signing
  • The Strategic Partnership (SP) model under DAP 2020 designates one Indian private sector entity per platform category as the production partner, incentivising technology transfer and long-term indigenous capability

Connection to this news: The 114 Rafale deal follows the DAP 2020 framework under the Buy (Global-Manufacture in India) or Strategic Partnership model, with Dassault required to work with an Indian SP entity (DRAL/Reliance Aerospace) for domestic manufacture of 96 of the 114 jets.

Dassault Rafale: Aircraft Profile and the 2016 IGA

The Rafale is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. It can perform air supremacy, ground attack, aerial reconnaissance, anti-ship strike, and nuclear deterrence missions. India signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with France on 23 September 2016 for 36 Rafales in fly-away condition at a cost of approximately €7.8 billion. All 36 aircraft have been delivered and are in service, operated from Ambala (No. 17 Squadron — Golden Arrows) and Hashimara (No. 101 Squadron — Falcons).

  • Engine: Two Snecma M88-4E turbofan engines; maximum speed Mach 1.8; combat radius over 1,000 km
  • Equipped with RBE2 AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar and SPECTRA electronic warfare suite
  • Armed with Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) and SCALP cruise missile
  • The 2016 deal was an IGA (government-to-government), bypassing the competitive MRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) tender process that had been ongoing since 2007
  • TATA Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) manufactures Rafale fuselage components under an offset obligation from the 2016 deal

Connection to this news: The 114-jet deal is a follow-on but qualitatively different from the 2016 deal — it involves domestic manufacture and is proceeding as a government-to-government agreement under MRFA nomenclature, with domestic manufacture obligations substantially higher than in 2016.

Make in India in Defence: Indigenisation Policy Framework

India's defence indigenisation policy has progressively strengthened since 2014. The government has notified a Positive Indigenisation List (PIL) — a list of items that can only be procured domestically and not imported. Four such lists have been notified: the first in August 2020 (101 items), followed by subsequent lists expanding coverage to hundreds of items including platforms, systems, and spares. Fighter aircraft figure in later PIL lists. Additionally, the government targets 75% indigenisation in defence procurement by 2027.

  • India's defence exports grew from ₹686 crore (2013-14) to over ₹21,000 crore (2023-24), targeting ₹50,000 crore by 2028-29
  • iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence) platform supports MSME and startup participation in defence R&D
  • DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) leads domestic R&D; HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) is the primary domestic manufacturer for aircraft
  • The indigenous Tejas Mk-1A (LCA-AF Mk1A) is also being procured (83 ordered from HAL at ₹48,000 crore), providing a parallel indigenisation track
  • Offset obligations under earlier procurements required 30% of contract value to be offset through Indian industry participation

Connection to this news: The emphasis on increasing the true Make in India component in the 114 Rafale deal reflects this broader policy push — negotiations will focus on transferring more production work (including avionics, systems integration, and weapons) to Indian firms, beyond just final assembly.

Key Facts & Data

  • Total MRFA procurement: 114 Rafale jets for the IAF
  • Estimated cost: ₹3.25 lakh crore (approximately $39 billion)
  • Fly-away from France: 18 aircraft; Manufactured in India: 96 aircraft
  • DAC AoN accorded: 12 February 2026
  • Dassault bid deadline: End-April 2026
  • Domestic assembly facility: DRAL (Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited), Nagpur
  • Expected first delivery: 2030 onwards (if contract signed by early 2027)
  • Original 2016 Rafale deal: 36 aircraft at €7.8 billion, all 36 now delivered
  • Current IAF squadrons operating Rafale: No. 17 (Ambala) and No. 101 (Hashimara)
  • India's defence indigenisation target: 75% of procurement value from domestic sources by 2027