Rafale jet deal to wrap up in months, says French minister

A deal between France and the government to sell 126 Rafale fighter jets to India in a deal worth an estimated US $15 billion will need more negotiations over several months, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday.

Le Drian's comments came after the Defence Ministry said this week it had agreed with the French Defence Ministry to fast-track negotiations and seek to overcome differences in talks that have been ongoing since January 2012.

"We are in a positive process, I hope it will come to a successful conclusion. It has progressed well," Le Drian told BFM-TV.

However, Le Drian said it would not happen before the end of 2014.

"It's not three weeks... It's several months, we'll see. But I'm optimistic."

In November, the CEO of Dassault Aviation told Reuters a contract by the end of March was a 'reasonable goal'.

France's Dassault has been trying to clinch a deal to sell its Rafale jets to India since the government chose the company over other foreign plane manufacturers in 2012.

Apart from disagreements over cost and work-sharing, elections in the country slowed talks.

Under the deal, which would provide a major boost to French domestic defence manufacturing, the first 18 planes will be made in France and shipped to India, while the remaining 108 will be produced by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL).

(Reuters)