India May Pay $161M for one Rafale-M jet, A 60% Increase from IAF's Rafale Procurement in 2016

India is poised to significantly bolster its naval aviation capabilities with the acquisition of 26 Rafale-M fighter jets from France. While the final price tag remains undisclosed, sources indicate a potential cost of $161 million (€146 million) per jet, marking a substantial increase from the $101 million (€91.7 million) paid for Rafale jets acquired by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2016.

This price difference is largely attributed to inflation adjustments over the past eight years.

The Rafale-M, a naval variant of Dassault Aviation's renowned Rafale fighter, is specifically designed for aircraft carrier operations. These advanced jets will be deployed on India's two aircraft carriers, INS Vikramaditya and the newly commissioned INS Vikrant, enhancing the Indian Navy's strike, air defence, and reconnaissance capabilities.

This procurement aligns with India's ongoing efforts to modernize its armed forces, evidenced by a series of high-value defence acquisitions over the past decade.

Notable deals include the 2018 purchase of the S-400 Triumf missile system from Russia for $5.43 billion, the 2015 acquisition of Apache and Chinook helicopters from the United States for $3 billion, and the 2020 procurement of MH-60R Seahawk helicopters, also from the U.S., for $2.6 billion.

The Rafale-M boasts impressive technical specifications, including a length of 15.27 meters, a wingspan of 10.9 meters, and a maximum takeoff weight of 24.5 tons. It is powered by two Snecma M88-2 turbofan engines, enabling high agility and power.

The aircraft is equipped with advanced avionics, such as the Thales RBE2 AESA radar and the SPECTRA electronic warfare system, ensuring superior situational awareness and protection against threats.

Its armament includes Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles, MICA short- and medium-range air-to-air missiles, Exocet AM39 anti-ship missiles, SCALP air-to-ground cruise missiles, and a 30mm GIAT 30 cannon.

The Rafale-M also has an operational range of approximately 1,850 kilometers, extendable through in-flight refueling.

Defence experts have welcomed the deal, emphasizing the Rafale-M's potential to provide India with a decisive advantage in the Indian Ocean region.

Admiral Karambir Singh, former Chief of Naval Staff, has stated that the Rafale-Ms will usher in a “new era of naval aviation,” while defence analyst Bharat Karnad has highlighted their range and weapons payload as crucial assets in the current geopolitical climate.

The acquisition of these advanced fighter jets is expected to significantly enhance India's naval air power, particularly as tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific region.

 

[sanket]

Good , what 50,000 cr i think it is including weapon pakage Seal te deal, HA ha Ha where are those who were claiming 270 Mn $ for Rafale , so iprice for Rafale in 2016 is out & its 91.7 Mn Euro , My Guess is MRFA deal would between 18 Bn$ to 22 Bn $ & Not over hyped 40 Bn $ & 50 Bn$ according to some Forum experts

 

[Instant Karma]

Cost of the aircrafts are more than the aircraft carrier itself.

 

[R. Singh]

We must buy 44+ Rafale F-4.2 also and hire Dassault as tech consultant to make twin engine ORCA !

 

[Anant]

Cost of the aircrafts are more than the aircraft carrier itself.

That is pretty much always the case unless you are looking at some massive and very expensive carrier.

 

[Instant Karma]

That is pretty much always the case unless you are looking at some massive and very expensive carrier.

These fighters planes manufacturing companies must be making huge amounts of profit atleast 50%.

 

[Rinku Pandey]

These fighters planes manufacturing companies must be making huge amounts of profit atleast 50%.

And that's because every country can't make them. It's a niche product.

 

[NSR]

Good , what 50,000 cr i think it is including weapon pakage Seal te deal, HA ha Ha where are those who were claiming 270 Mn $ for Rafale , so iprice for Rafale in 2016 is out & its 91.7 Mn Euro , My Guess is MRFA deal would between 18 Bn$ to 22 Bn $ & Not over hyped 40 Bn $ & 50 Bn$ according to some Forum experts

No one overhyped at all.

Add armaments, spares, and in Rafale case lifelong MRO as it refuses to let India have any TOTs or even Maintenance TOT as evidenced by Dassault trying to butt into even Mirage-2000I MRO by pushing out HAL.
Remember we spent about $3 billions overhauling, upgrading, integrating and flight testing by HAL for 48 Mirage-2000Is.
Wait for real numbers to be spelt out.

$30+ billions for 114 MRFA and lifelong MRO slavery is a definite possibility.

 

[SanjayLimbani]

TEDBF is the best option even if it cost more than Rafale-M.

All quality indigenous defence weapons made in India is the best option than foreign imported one.

Because money remain in the country and helps overall economy of our country.

 

[sanket]

No one overhyped at all.

Add armaments, spares, and in Rafale case lifelong MRO as it refuses to let India have any TOTs or even Maintenance TOT as evidenced by Dassault trying to butt into even Mirage-2000I MRO by pushing out HAL.
Remember we spent about $3 billions overhauling, upgrading, integrating and flight testing by HAL for 48 Mirage-2000Is.
Wait for real numbers to be spelt out.

$30+ billions for 114 MRFA and lifelong MRO slavery is a definite possibility.

Forget about armaments , Many were waiting for knowing Plain vanila price , Rather Than 58000 Cr Deal for 36 Rafale , Rafale is almost winner of MRFA , Mark my word 114 no is Good to share ToT for Dassault plus already purchased 36 + Expected 26 Rafale M , Good chance for france to start Local Production with Eco-system with already MRO facility , because oof small No may Refuse for ToTs in MRO , second as per Deal Dassault has to keep availability rate of 75% Rafale fleet at any Given Time , so its their responsibility Now calculate last Time I said to handle for Every single Rafale it will need 2 to 3 F-16 jets .US will return with Empty Hand , Dassault will not only Build Rafale Jets in Bharat But also Likely to b exported From Bharat

 

[Yikes]

The heck is this price? Wasn't deal worth around $7 billions?

 

[Anant]

Forget about armaments , Many were waiting for knowing Plain vanila price , Rather Than 58000 Cr Deal for 36 Rafale , Rafale is almost winner of MRFA , Mark my word 114 no is Good to share ToT for Dassault plus already purchased 36 + Expected 26 Rafale M , Good chance for france to start Local Production with Eco-system with already MRO facility , because oof small No may Refuse for ToTs in MRO , second as per Deal Dassault has to keep availability rate of 75% Rafale fleet at any Given Time , so its their responsibility Now calculate last Time I said to handle for Every single Rafale it will need 2 to 3 F-16 jets .US will return with Empty Hand , Dassault will not only Build Rafale Jets in Bharat But also Likely to b exported From Bharat

Not too sure of exports from India for now, but if the Rafale does win MRFA (and I'd say it has the best chance so far of the contenders) we should see a nice production line in India. Moreover, having that large a fleet will also allow us to pressurise Dassault into opening up the MRO centre much more.

 

[Anant]

These fighters planes manufacturing companies must be making huge amounts of profit atleast 50%.

Export margins on arms are always very high. So, yeah, they may well be making profits of 50%.

 

[Anant]

TEDBF is the best option even if it cost more than Rafale-M.

All quality indigenous defence weapons made in India is the best option than foreign imported one.

Because money remain in the country and helps overall economy of our country.

The problem with that is the fact that the TEDBF won't be operationally available for atleast another decade. How do you propose using our 40 MiG-29Ks (of which we may have 32-33 available at any point) on two carriers, each of which requires an air wing of 22-26 aircraft?

 

[Anant]

The heck is this price? Wasn't deal worth around $7 billions?

The price mentioned here (3.3 billion Euro for 36 Rafales in 2016) was for the bare-bones aircraft. Add in the cost for ISEs and armaments, and the cost went up significantly.

Similarly, the other price shown (3.8 billion Euro for 26 Rafale Ms) does not include armaments or spares.

 

[desigandu]

The problem with that is the fact that the TEDBF won't be operationally available for atleast another decade. How do you propose using our 40 MiG-29Ks (of which we may have 32-33 available at any point) on two carriers, each of which requires an air wing of 22-26 aircraft?

And IAC-2 if approved in 2025 may arrive by 2032, while TEDBFs won’t come in numbers before 2035, if approved by 2026-2027…

 

[desigandu]

That is pretty much always the case unless you are looking at some massive and very expensive carrier.

The lead ford class carrier may be around $13B!

 

[desigandu]

Not too sure of exports from India for now, but if the Rafale does win MRFA (and I'd say it has the best chance so far of the contenders) we should see a nice production line in India. Moreover, having that large a fleet will also allow us to pressurise Dassault into opening up the MRO centre much more.

I predict MRFA, unless signed by 2026, will just fade away, despite the fact we need the numbers…

Of course Tejas MK1As and 2s further severe delays may change things!

 

[Chinese eater]

Just cancel these high expensive machines.

Thailand is negotiations with USA is fir 80 USD/unit for F35. Rafale is very expensive.

 

[Anant]

And IAC-2 if approved in 2025 may arrive by 2032, while TEDBFs won’t come in numbers before 2035, if approved by 2026-2027…

Sir, I do feel that IAC-II will take 9-10 years to from start of construction to commissioning, or 11-ish years from approval to commissioning. That puts IAC-II entering service earliest in 2035-36. Please do remember that CSL's 7 year period is for keel laying to start of sea trials, to which we have to add 2-3 years.

 

[Anant]

The lead ford class carrier may be around $13B!

And those supercarriers may be one of the few ships where the carrier potentially costs more than the aircraft. For smaller carriers, however, the general trend is that the air wing is more expensive.

 

[kurtwallis wallis]

Just cancel these high expensive machines.

Thailand is negotiations with USA is fir 80 USD/unit for F35. Rafale is very expensive.

YES! F35A is 78 millions usd and F16 Blk72 is 70 millions usd per jet costs...

 

[Anant]

Just cancel these high expensive machines.

Thailand is negotiations with USA is fir 80 USD/unit for F35. Rafale is very expensive.

1. Thailand requested F-35s, but the US rejected the request and offered F-16 Block 70/72s instead. Thailand is seen to be too close to China.

2. The US has not offered F-35s to India, and has in fact said on occasion that the F-35 will almost certainly not be the first US-origin fighter to be operated by India. They are in favour of India buying either the F-16V or F-15EX before offering the F-35.

3. USD 80/unit? I suppose you mean it to be USD 80 million per unit. If not, heck, I can probably get 250 or so F-35s without much issue. 😛

4. The 80 million USD figure is the cost price of the F-35. The US Armed Forces get the F-35 at a very small markup beyond that. For exports, however, once you factor in infrastructure, training, armament, spares, and other things, the cost can easily balloon to several times that figure. For reference, among recent F-35 sales, Greece will pay 215 million USD per jet (with few weapons, as they will use the F-16 weapon stocks mostly), and Czechia will pay 233.33 million USD per jet (again, few weapons included).

 

[Air Cmde KI Ravi AVSM VSM]

What is important here that is not discussed is LCC. What is the Life Cycle cost of the Rafale. Bare bone cost really means nothing. It is a misnomer. fit the Rafale in both air defence and ground attack and also in EW configuration and see what is the cost. That is the true representation of aircraft initial costing. Since the MTBF. MTTR & MMH/FH of Rafale is pretty good it's LCC will be low.

 

[Robin]

Never really liked rafale.Obsolete on day 1 vs j-20 ,F-35 ,Turkish 5 gen.

War in Ukraine has proven that in well armed battlefields with good anti aircraft and ecm / jamming ,traditional aircrafts have limited role.Rafale with its big drop tanks and non stealthy design would be seen from a huge distance negating any advantage against well fortified defences.

Would have preferred going Chinese way of copying flankers and making huge bulk of them ,remember in war there is always a risk of component embargo so only those nations that produce everything survive.

Manufacturing needs dedication and vision.Just recruit the top minds paying big salaries and everything will change in few years.Unfortunayely neither the previous govt or the current one has any plan to do that.How do u expect a world class aircraft engineer with salary of DRDO,ARDE etc.U just don't.

 

[Robin]

No one overhyped at all.

Add armaments, spares, and in Rafale case lifelong MRO as it refuses to let India have any TOTs or even Maintenance TOT as evidenced by Dassault trying to butt into even Mirage-2000I MRO by pushing out HAL.
Remember we spent about $3 billions overhauling, upgrading, integrating and flight testing by HAL for 48 Mirage-2000Is.
Wait for real numbers to be spelt out.

$30+ billions for 114 MRFA and lifelong MRO slavery is a definite possibility.

TOT is myth and nonsense.Even after 25 + years of making AL-31 engines we just make 55 percent of it,Chinese have copied and made ws series functional.

Problem is manufacturing competence and engineering problem in India.No one is bothered with it.Cureent govt was one of the most powerful in decades but failed to overhaul anything regarding manufacturing.

Till our industry is capable ,no one is holding our hands and telling us how to walk.

 

[Robin]

1. Thailand requested F-35s, but the US rejected the request and offered F-16 Block 70/72s instead. Thailand is seen to be too close to China.

2. The US has not offered F-35s to India, and has in fact said on occasion that the F-35 will almost certainly not be the first US-origin fighter to be operated by India. They are in favour of India buying either the F-16V or F-15EX before offering the F-35.

3. USD 80/unit? I suppose you mean it to be USD 80 million per unit. If not, heck, I can probably get 250 or so F-35s without much issue. 😛

4. The 80 million USD figure is the cost price of the F-35. The US Armed Forces get the F-35 at a very small markup beyond that. For exports, however, once you factor in infrastructure, training, armament, spares, and other things, the cost can easily balloon to several times that figure. For reference, among recent F-35 sales, Greece will pay 215 million USD per jet (with few weapons, as they will use the F-16 weapon stocks mostly), and Czechia will pay 233.33 million USD per jet (again, few weapons included).

F-35 won't be offered to a neutral country like India playing in everyone's lap.

Just go the Chinese way and set up reverse engineering department with top scientists and engineers.It will yield results in 5 years.

If out core engineering is good ( which is not ) ,we would have absorbed all the tech that we got with su-30,mig-29 atleast which are very old planes.We could.even absorb that.

 

[Akshat]

Just cancel these high expensive machines.

Thailand is negotiations with USA is fir 80 USD/unit for F35. Rafale is very expensive.

Rafale beat F18 in price. And you think F35 will be cheaper than F18? 😂😂😂

 

[kurtwallis wallis]

India is helping France to keep Dassault-Thales be afloat and not go bankruptcy...

 

[NSR]

TOT is myth and nonsense.Even after 25 + years of making AL-31 engines we just make 55 percent of it,Chinese have copied and made ws series functional.

Problem is manufacturing competence and engineering problem in India.No one is bothered with it.Cureent govt was one of the most powerful in decades but failed to overhaul anything regarding manufacturing.

Till our industry is capable ,no one is holding our hands and telling us how to walk.

Except for Great RM Shri Parrikar Ji, most of the RMs are Top Down ones with no visions.
PM is too busy for 10+ years with hyping his and his party instead of attending to Defense and Huge chinese trade deficit problems, etc
So it is going nowhere.