India has reportedly asked France to provide 31 additional carrier-capable Dassault Rafale Marine jets for the Indian Navy. This comes alongside New Delhi’s parallel effort to procure 114 Rafale fighters for the Indian Air Force under the Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) program.
The report by La Tribune came two days after India’s Defence Acquisition Council granted Acceptance of Necessity for the MRFA requirement, a procedural step that formally advances the competition and opens the door to the next phases of procurement. The $39 billion purchase of 114 Dassault Rafale jets is widely expected to be made official during French President Emmanuel Macron’s official visit to India from February 17 to 19, 2026.
India’s existing Rafale fleet
Under a 2016 intergovernmental agreement, the Indian Air Force already operates 36 Rafale fighters. In April 2025, the Indian Navy signed a deal for 26 Rafale Marine aircraft, with deliveries slated to be completed by 2030.
A decisive factor in India’s selection was the fighter’s ability to operate from STOBAR-configured carriers. In 2022, Dassault’s naval variant underwent trials at India’s Shore Based Test Facility in Goa, where it demonstrated short takeoffs and arrested landings representative of operations from INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya.
This was notable, because the French Navy operates Rafale Marine exclusively from the CATOBAR-equipped aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. Demonstrating STOBAR compatibility helped to confirm that the aircraft could meet India’s carrier constraints without major redesign.
Carrier integration and MiG-29K replacement
Rafale Marine is set to equip India’s two STOBAR carriers, INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya, for multirole strike, air-to-air, maritime attack, and electronic-warfare missions. Over time, it is expected to replace the Indian Navy’s MiG-29K fleet, which has faced serviceability and reliability issues during recent years.
If an additional 31 aircraft were to be finalized, in due course India’s navy would field 57 Rafale Marine fighters in total, compared with 41 for France’s naval aviation.
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