French Dassault Aviation wins $10.4 billion Indian contract for Rafale multirole fighter aircraft 3101122.

The process to determine the L1 (lowest bidder) has been completed, and sources indicate that the final contract is expected to be signed in the next financial year. The first 18 aircraft will be bought off the shelf. The rest 118 will be manufactured in partnership with an Indian company.

India has chosen Dassault Rafale because it emerged as the lowest bidder among all Western fighter makers, much lower than the Euro-fighter price offer, said the report.

There were six contenders for the world's biggest defence deal which included the Russian MiG- 35,Lockheed Martin's F-16 Falcon, Boeing's F-18 Hornet, the Swedish Saab Grippen, Euro-Fighter Typhoon and Rafale.

Of these, the European EADS Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale were in the final race for the global tender for the Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA). The Eurofighter bid was backed by four partner nations including Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom while the Dassault Rafale was backed by the French Government.

On November 4 last year, Defence ministry had opened the commercial bid of the two firms left in the race and since then has been busy in determining the lowest bidder. The rest were rejected as they didn't meet the technical qualifications.