Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has denied media reports claiming that it has been selected to make 94 Rafale fighter jets in India, out of the 114 new fighters being purchased by India from France. In a stock exchange filing today, the PSU refuted a news report by Times of India, saying it has not received any communication from the government regarding the same.
In the statement filed at BSE and NSE, HAL said, “With respect to the said article, we would like to clarify that Company did not receive any such official communication from Ministry of Defence or Dassault in this regard.” The aircraft maker was referring to a Times of India report titled “Defence Council clears procurement of 114 Rafales; mega contract set to become ‘mother of all defence deals”.
The report claimed that while 20 of the multi-role fighters will be bought in fly-away condition, the rest will be manufactured with Dassault-HAL collaboration in India. The report claimed, “About 20 of the multi-role fighters will be bought in fly-away condition and are expected to be added to the IAF fleet by 2030, while the rest will be manufactured with Dassault-HAL collaboration in India.”
However, now HAL has clarified that no decision has been taken on the Indian partner to make the 95 Rafale jets in India.
The report emerged after the Defence Acquisition Council accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for capital acquisition proposals estimated at approximately ₹3.60 lakh crore, including 114 Rafales, Boeing P8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft and other military hardware.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is currently making Tejas fighter jets and several helicopters, apart from upgrading Sukhoi Su-30MKI jets. As per reports, HAL has been kept out of the fifth-generation AMCA project, and a private player will be selected. Sources say that it was rejected because its order book is much larger than its turnover. Therefore, it will not be a surprise if a private sector company is selected to collaborate with Dassault to make the Rafale planes in India.
