New Delhi: With the planned acquisition of 114 additional Dassault Rafale fighters by the Indian Air Force (IAF), France has further reinforced its standing as one of India’s most consequential defence partners over the past six decades – a relationship defined by continuity, technology transfer and comparatively fewer political encumbrances than many of India’s other materiel supplier states.From combat aircraft and helicopters to submarines and missile systems, French-origin platforms and other assorted defence equipment have repeatedly filled critical gaps in India’s military capability while simultaneously supporting local industrial capacity.A recent Reuters report has also highlighted a potentially significant deepening of India-France aerospace cooperation, centred on aero-engine localisation. French engine manufacturer Safran has indicated that it is prepared to establish a full engine assembly line in India to support local production requirements tied to the planned acquisition of 114 supplementary Rafales. The disclosure was made by Safran CEO Olivier Andriès, who said the company is ready to align with New Delhi’s indigenisation goals as intergovernmental discussions continue between the two sides on the expanded Rafale order.INS Vikrant’s Chetak helicopter with Sri Lankan Air Force personnel on board for a search and rescue mission, November 2025. Photo: @DrSJaishankar/X via PTI.Safran currently produces the M88 turbofan engine that powers the Rafale fighters, and establishing an assembly line locally for these power packs would mark a notable shift from simple supply to embedded manufacturing presence, potentially improving lifecycle support, turnaround time and technology absorption within India’s aerospace ecosystem. Andriès also said Safran would source components from Indian suppliers, widening the domestic vendor base and integrating local firms into a global supply chain.The Reuters report situates this offer within a broader procurement context.On Thursday, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) granted initial clearance to acquire 114 Rafales ahead of the imminent Delhi visit by French President Emmanuel Macron. Taken together, these moves to acquire the fighters and initiate joint M88 development indicate that engine manufacturing and aerospace industrial cooperation are becoming central pillars – not side benefits – of upcoming big-ticket defence deals, with propulsion technology emerging as a core area of Indo-French strategic collaboration.“The pragmatism, flexibility and professionalism of France’s defence trade practices have ensured their commercial success, not only with India, but with other countries as well over many years,” said a former MoD official, declining to be named.Also read: Why the 114-Rafale Fighter Jet Purchase Raises Hard QuestionsThe French government and its military vendors work in close unison, he added, to ensure effective project completion, an aspect that is rarely replicated in India, where ministries, the armed services and domestic defence manufacturers frequently operate in silos rather than through coordinated, mission-driven collaboration.A cross-section of senior IAF officers concurred, adding that there were no strings attached to such weapons purchases from France compared with the United States. They noted that French contracts have historically involved fewer end-use monitoring conditions, operational caveats or political compliance clauses, giving India greater autonomy in deployment, modification and sustainment. This relative absence of intrusive oversight, they said, has made French-origin platforms more attractive for sensitive missions and long-term force planning.Operating largely under the radar, several French defence vendors – working under Paris’ direction – have frequently participated in classified Indian strategic programmes, one of which involved Dassault Aviation engineers quietly assisting the IAF in re-jigging its Dassault Mirage 2000H fighters to deliver precision-guided munitions (PGMs) during the 1999 Kargil War.This swiftly forthcoming French support proved decisive in turning the tide of the eleven-week-long war, after the deadly PGMs blasted Pakistan Army bunkers in the Batalik and Drass heights, hastening the enemy’s withdrawal from Indian territory, back across the disputed line of control. These precision Mirage strikes also created aviation warfare history, in that they were the first to have been executed in the world’s highest and most arduous terrain, which is not only difficult to navigate but also highly challenging to attack effectively.Earlier, 1953 onward, France’s Dassault Aviation began supplying India with around 100 MD450 Ouragan (Hurricane) fighter-bombers, which in the IAF was nicknamed “Toofani” because the French name proved difficult for many pilots and ground crew to pronounce. These aircraft formed one of the IAF’s earliest post-Independence non-British combat fleets and marked the beginning of a long-running combat aviation relationship between Delhi and Paris.These were followed a few years later by the more advanced Mystère IVA fighters, which performed effectively during the 1965 India-Pakistan war in ground-attack and strike roles, earning a reputation for sturdiness and operational reliability. Together, the Ouragan and Mystère fleets laid the foundation for decades of subsequent Indo-French aerospace cooperation.Thereafter, in July 1979, the IAF inducted the ground-attack SEPECAT Jaguars, built jointly by France’s Brequet and the United Kingdom’s British Aircraft Corporation, of which the IAF still operates around 118, principally in a strategic role.And, in a magnanimous gesture to an established customer, in July 2018, France gifted the IAF 31 Jaguar airframes to support the ageing platforms. The niggling UK, for its part, opted to sell the IAF two twin-seat Jaguar frames and 619 lines of rotables for Rs 28 million, when it could easily have followed France’s example and secured the IAF’s goodwill by supplying them free.Indian Navy distributes relief material brought by INS Vikrant in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka, November 2025. Photo: @indiannavy/X via PTI Photo.Subsequently, in the mid-1980s, Dassault was once again shortlisted to supply the IAF some three squadrons of around 51 single and dual-seat Mirage 2000Hs that presently constitute the force’s ‘sword’ arm. Currently, these platforms are being upgraded jointly by Dassault and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to Mirage 2000-5 levels, to provide the fighters greater lethality and agility and to extend their operational life by an additional 20-25 years.These have been succeeded by the 36 Rafales, of which four were twin-seat trainers, and the process further kick-started for acquiring an additional 114 of the same fighter type, albeit its advanced variants, to boost the IAF’s depleting fighter squadron numbers down from a sanctioned strength of 42.5 to merely 29.Last April, India concluded another government-to-government agreement with France for 26 Rafale Marine variants for the Indian Navy for Rs 63,000 crore. These carrier-borne fighters, whose deliveries are expected to begin around 2029 and conclude by 2031, will comprise the air arm of the indigenously-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. This fighter package also includes trainer variants and associated support systems, and together with earlier IAF fighter deals, further expands the French footprint in India’s frontline combat aviation inventory.This fixed-wing collaboration has been complemented over decades by equally consequential rotary-wing partnerships.In the early 1960s, France approved the licensed production of the Chetak (Aérospatiale Alouette III) and Cheetah (Aérospatiale SA-315B Lama) light utility helicopters, initially for the IAF and later for the Army Aviation Corps after its formation in 1986, embedding French-origin helicopter designs deep within India’s military aviation ecosystem.Also read: Why the Air Force Is Turning Back to the Rafale – and Why It’s CostlySix decades later, the upgraded versions of both helicopter types remain in service and continue to sustain army formations deployed in Himalayan regions, like the 17,000-foot-high Siachen Glacier and surrounding areas. Both these helicopters also perform assorted training, transport, casualty evacuation, communications and liaison roles and limited interdiction tasks.In 1961, France’s Turbomeca granted HAL a manufacturing licence for its Artouste turboshaft engine to power the Chetak and Cheetah helicopters. Some 40 years later, this collaboration jointly developed the more powerful Shakti engine, whose variants power an assortment of locally designed and series-built rotorcraft. These include the Dhruv advanced light helicopter, its combat variant Rudra and the under-development light utility helicopter, amongst others.Defence analysts told The Wire that French flexibility and responsiveness helped advance India’s indigenous helicopter-engine programmes in an area where domestic capability had long remained limited despite years of effort. They said French firms were more willing to share know-how and tailor cooperation to Indian requirements, whereas several other global engine manufacturers stayed constrained by rigid export controls, corporate caution, and inflexible partnership models that slowed or blocked meaningful collaboration.Such cooperation, however, has not been confined to aviation alone but has extended across multiple defence sectors over decades. As early as 1983, India’s public sector Bharat Dynamics Limited began licence-building French Milan anti-tank guided missiles, while in late 2005 India signed a USD 3.5 billion deal with France’s Naval Group (then DCNS) to construct six Scorpene-Kalvari class conventional diesel-electric submarines at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited in Mumbai.Current plans are expected to include three additional Scorpene-class boats, along with a French-assisted capability upgrade and life-extension package for the earlier six submarines to equip them with locally developed air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems, further underlining that the partnership spans long-term platform support and modernisation as well as initial construction.Previously, France, one of the P5 members of the UN Security Council, had also endeared itself to Delhi by adopting a notably restrained position after India’s 1998 underground nuclear tests. Unlike several other members of the council, Paris stopped short of outright condemnation following the five-test series authorised by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s BJP government, which justified the move partly in terms of strategic concerns over China.That diplomatic restraint, Indian officials and analysts have often noted, helped build long-term political trust and later stood Paris in good stead when major defence contracts were being considered. As the French saying goes: Rien ne réussit comme le succès or nothing succeeds like success.