New Delhi: India has moved a step closer to a major defense deal with France on 114 Rafale fighter jets as the country has finalized the Letter of Request (LoR) for the acquisition of the 4.5 generation multirole jet for the Indian Air Force.“The LOR is ready and is expected to be sent to France in a few weeks,” defense sources said. times of India. The LOR is a formal government-to-government document used to initiate major defense acquisitions under international frameworks such as foreign military sales or intergovernmental agreements. The first estimate of the mega deal is around Rs 3.25 lakh crore.Under the proposed deal, about 90 of the 114 fighter aircraft are planned to be manufactured in India through a partnership between French company Dassault Aviation and an Indian firm under the Make-in-India initiative. The remaining 24 aircraft are expected to be delivered from France in flying condition. The indigenous content of Jet will be around 50%.IAF chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh is scheduled to visit France in early June, just ahead of PM Modi’s visit to the country from June 15 to 17 for the G7 summit. Singh’s visit will finalize this mega deal. The final contract, which is expected by the end of this year, will be signed after final price negotiations and approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).Apart from the deal for 114 Rafale jets, the Navy is separately purchasing 26 Rafale maritime aircraft from Dassault for carrier operations, the agreement for which was signed on April 28 last year. The IAF is already operating 36 Rafales received under a September 2016 inter-governmental agreement.India’s Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) programme, under which 114 fighter jets will be procured, aims to address the critical capability gap in the Indian Air Force and check the declining strength of its fighter squadrons, which have shrunk from the ideal 42.5 squadrons to a worrying 29, which are required to effectively deal with the two-front security threat from Pakistan and China.At a time when Pakistan is in the process of acquiring 40 J-35 5th generation fighter aircraft, India is pressurizing Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to expedite the delivery of Tejas aircraft under two contracts with the Indian Air Force. Earlier, Defense Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh had said that he expected HAL to deliver 10 Tejas MK-1A fighter jets within this financial year.With the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) expected to be ready and enter service by 2035, the government’s urgent need for a stealth platform has brought Russia’s Su-57 back into focus.For the AMCA programme, the government has shortlisted three domestic private sector contenders for prototype development and manufacturing: a consortium led by Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), Larsen & Toubro (L&T), and a consortium led by Bharat Forge.