PARIS (Sputnik) — India is discussing with Paris the possible purchase of 63 French Rafale fighter jets instead of the 126 it originally announced it would buy, Le Monde newspaper reported Friday.
“Negotiations continued all night and resumed in the morning,” the newspaper quoted a source with knowledge of the talks as saying.
The Rafale deal is one of the topics that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to focus on during his three-day visit to France beginning Thursday.
Earlier in the day, a source in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs told Sputnik that India and France are likely to strike a final deal on purchasing French Rafale fighter jets on Friday.
In 2012, India approached French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation to supply the country with 126 Rafale fighter jets, turning down a proposal from producers of the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft. The project was later put on hold in light of high costs and Dassault's unwillingness to guarantee the performance of Rafale aircraft produced in India under license agreements.
Earlier media reports suggested that India might cancel the deal with France, eyeing Russian and UK fighter jets as potential replacements.
