India to buy 126 French-made Rafale fighter jets

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French president Nicolas Sarkozy has confirmed that India will buy 126 French-made combat aircraft in a massive 12 billion US dollar deal.

Speaking in Paris, Sarkozy said that the deal would increase the might of the world’s fourth largest air force and called the deal a "great success". India has become the world’s biggest arms importer as an economic boom has allowed it to push the modernisation of its military.

A Dassault Rafale fighter jet takes part in a flying display during the 49th Paris Air Show at the Le Bourget airport near Paris in this June 21, 2011 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

As a result, major arms manufacturers are wooing the country as it replaces its obsolete Soviet-era weapons and buys new equipment. So far, India’s air force has around 700 fighter aircraft.

French Rafale jets fly above western France last year.

A Dassault Rafale fighter jet in Saint-Dizier, eastern France.