Indian Navy likely to get most powerful and latest upgraded variant of Rafale-M, designated as F4/F4.1

Source : Daily Defence News

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The Indian Navy’s selection of the French Dassault Rafale-M naval fighter for operations from its Aircraft Carriers, has been in news for the last few weeks and in March, on the sidelines of the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron in New Delhi, at least it is expected that India will announce the winner of the deal before it commences price negotiations.

The Indian Navy will be getting Rafale-M Block F4 (4.1) variant since Dassault has now shifted production to Block F4 that will come with upgraded radar as well as improved capabilities in the Helmet Mounted Display (HUD), more effective in Network-centric Warfare with more data exchange and satellite communication capacity.

French Navy already has commenced trials of the F4.1 standard from 2021 onwards and from 2022 onwards it has started upgrading its older F3R Rafale-M variants to the new standard that will also be sold to India with some customization as requested by the Indian Navy.