France is in advanced talks with India to buy a multi-barrel rocket launcher system, a top Indian official said on Monday, a potential deal that would be the first time India’s second-largest arms supplier buys weapons from New Delhi.
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India is the world’s biggest arms importer, but has been trying to boost local production to meet its defence requirements and has been steadily raising its defence exports.
The domestically made Pinaka rocket system with a range of up to 90km (56 miles) was shown to a French delegation in India around three months ago and was found to be satisfactory, a second official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“France is in active talks for Pinaka,” Ummalaneni Raja Babu, the director general of missiles and strategic systems at India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation, said on the sidelines of the Aero India aerospace exhibition in the southern city of Bengaluru.
“A deal has not been reached yet, but the talks are continuing,” said Babu.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to France on Monday to co-chair an artificial intelligence summit in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron and both leaders are expected to hold bilateral talks on Tuesday.