FILE - In this June 19, 2015 file photo, a Rafale jet fighter performs its demonstration flight at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, north of Paris. India has signed Friday Sept.23, 2016 a $8.78 billion deal with France to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets in ''ready to fly'' condition meaning the planes would be made in France. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere, File)
September 23, 2016 - 1:27 AM
NEW DELHI - India has signed an $8.78 billion deal with France to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets in "ready to fly" condition, meaning the planes would be made in France.
The agreement was signed Friday by India's Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his visiting French counterpart Jean Yves Le Drian to replace older planes in the Indian air force.
The first of the aircraft will be delivered in three years and the last in 5 1/2 years.
India has become the world's biggest arms importer, with an economic boom enabling it to modernize its military. Major arms manufacturers are wooing the country as it replaces its obsolete Soviet-era weapons and buys new equipment.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016