Photo: AFPNew Delhi: Defence minister Manohar Parrikar signed an agreement with French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Friday to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets from Dassault Aviation SA that will give India an edge over Pakistan. India started the hunt for multi-role fighter jets in 2007. It finally decided to scrap that tender and announced it will buy 36 Rafale jets directly from France under a government-to-government deal during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Paris last year. Also Read: India needs more than Rafale jets to counter China, say expertsWith the Meteor missiles, Indian Air Force will be able to hit targets as far as 150km away, compared with 80km it has so far been capable of targeting. Under India’s so-called offsets policy, Dassault will have to procure Indian-manufactured components equivalent to a certain value of the deal to help local defence manufacturing.

Source: Mint September 23, 2016 07:41 UTC