The 114 fighters would be complementing the Rafale fighter jets and are expected to be very advanced.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is soon going to move a proposal before the government to buy 114 new fighter jets for over Rs 1.4 lakh crore. The proposal for acquiring these 114 fighters is in the final stages and would be moved for government proposal soon, top government sources told India Today.

The 114 fighters would be complementing the Rafale fighter jets and are expected to be more advanced than the latest French fighter aircraft in the Indian Air Force fleet, they said. The IAF has already issued the Request for Information for the tender and would be soon moving a proposal for getting the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) before the Defence Ministry for the multi-billion dollar project which would enable it to acquire 4.5 plus generation aircraft in large numbers to match the capabilities of the Omni role Rafale fighters 36 of which have started getting inducted from last year.

The Request for Information (RFI) has been responded to by several global players including fighter jet manufacturers from the US, France, Russia, and Sweden. While the Americans are offering from the F-15 Strike Eagle, F-18 Super Hornet, and an F-16 variant by the name of F-21, the Russians are likely to offer the MiG-35 and a Sukhoi fighter. Sweden's SAAB is looking to pitch in with its Gripen fighter aircraft which it says is far more advanced than the one which was offered in 2007 to the Indian Air Force. France would be participating in the tender with the Rafale fighter jets.

Recently, Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria had termed the Rafale as one of the strong contenders for the 114 fighter acquisition project. Sources said that for selection in the project, the main aspects would be the capabilities of the aircraft on offer along with the price at which it is offered. The Indian Air Force is also developing the parameters on which it will select the fighters which would be both single-engine and double-engine and would create a level-playing field for them in the competition.

Whichever aircraft is selected by the Air Force would remain the mainstay of the force for almost the next four decades and would be required to be fully integrated with the Su-30MKI fighters which would be the mainstay in terms of numbers as 272 of them would be inducted by next year.