Rafale Fighter
India wants to indigenise key military systems by adding its own avionics and weapons to the Rafale fighter. This goal reflects India’s push to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers during a time of global security uncertainty.
The Indian Air Force is pressing to gain access to Rafale’s source code from Dassault Aviation. This move aims to boost India’s defense autonomy and technological control over its frontline fighter jets.
India’s demand is bold but aligns with its strategic goals under the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” (Self-Reliant India) mission. That initiative aims to turn India from a defense importer into a builder of advanced military technology. The Rafale programme plays a key role in helping India reach self-reliance in modern defense capabilities.
India plans to upgrade Rafale with two locally developed systems to improve precision strike capabilities. The first is the Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW), designed to destroy airbases and hardened enemy targets.
The second is the Astra Mk1 missile, a beyond-visual-range (BVR) weapon for air-to-air combat superiority. These upgrades will make the Rafale more lethal in conventional and hybrid warfare scenarios.
India Disputes Rafale Fighter Codes
The first Rafale deal, worth €7.8 billion (about RM39 billion), was signed on September 23, 2016, and it gave the IAF 36 state-of-the-art 4.5-generation multirole fighters. By April 2022, the IAF would complete all deliveries and operationally deploy the aircraft at the v.
India’s strategic ties with France were reinforced on April 28, 2025, when it signed a government-to-government agreement worth US$7.4 billion (RM33.3 billion) to buy 26 Rafale Marine (Rafale-M) aircraft for the Indian Navy.
This naval procurement, which replaces the ageing MiG-29K fleet, is a significant step forward for India’s maritime strike capabilities. It will allow deployment aboard the INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya to counter growing Chinese influence throughout the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
With the Rafale-M’s cutting-edge avionics, carrier-capable landing systems, and Meteor BVR missile, India can continue to maintain air superiority over contested Indo-Pacific waters and choke points, such as the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea.
As tensions increase after the 2020 conflict in the Galwan Valley with China and the ongoing standoffs at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), bringing this platform into naval service strengthens India’s commitment to keeping a strong defense both on land and at sea.
Dassault Aviation’s
India’s potential to fully utilise the Rafale is limited by Dassault Aviation’s refusal to release the source code for critical systems, such as the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar and the modular Multi-Mission Computer.
These systems are the digital backbone of the Rafale’s mission. As the digital backbone of the Rafale’s mission architecture, these systems offer unmatched situational awareness, sensor fusion, and multi-role adaptability, giving the fighter a significant edge in high-threat, multi-domain operations.
Thales’ AESA radar enables the simultaneous tracking and engagement of multiple aerial and surface targets in modern air combat, where adversaries are increasingly employing saturation attacks and swarm tactics.
Because of problems with the Mirage 2000 fleet, where limited software access made it hard to add local weapons and upgrade systems, leading to expensive delays and a need for outside assistance, India has asked for the source code.
“France’s reluctance to share the Rafale source code has not significantly strained diplomatic ties with India,” experts say, citing continued defense cooperation and trust building, including the highly valued Rafale-M naval deal.
Rafale’s source code
The need to safeguard intellectual property is the driving force behind France’s cautious approach, as the Rafale’s source code represents decades of research and development, proprietary algorithms, and a significant investment in sensitive combat and flight control technologies.
France is worried that unrestricted access could lead to technology leaks or inadvertent replication by rogue actors or rival states in an era of reverse engineering, cyber-espionage, and the grey-zone proliferation of dual-use technologies.
Letting India access the Rafale source code could weaken France’s export control and set a risky precedent. Other Rafale buyers—Qatar, Egypt, and Indonesia—might also demand similar access, challenging France’s current control.
Allowing third parties to modify mission software could create system bugs or major security issues. Such changes might disrupt maintenance or affect mission performance during critical operations like deep strikes or precision attacks.
To ease tensions, France offered limited cooperation frameworks to India. This process includes restricted software kits for selective Indian weapon integration and forming joint technical working groups.
These measures have already facilitated the integration of India’s Astra Mk1 missile into the Rafale. The Astra Mk1 has a range of over 100 kilometres and complements the longer-range Meteor missile. This increases India’s capability against Chinese J-20s and Pakistani JF-17s in contested airspace.
Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon
India also added the Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) to Rafale’s arsenal. SAAW is a precision bomb that targets enemy airbases and hardened shelters. These additions make the Rafale more effective in high-altitude and cross-border operations.
India’s request for source code access reflects a push for greater technological and strategic independence. This demand aligns with its need to operate autonomously in an uncertain, multipolar world.
Rafale’s stealth, electronic warfare features, and long-range strike capability help India deter threats across multiple regions. These include Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, and the Western Indian Ocean, where regional instability remains high.
In today’s global competition, countries like China and Russia exploit their defense system weaknesses. France’s caution stems from fears about uncontrolled tech spreading to rival nations.
Despite disagreements, France and India share key strategic goals in the Indo-Pacific. Both aim to contain China’s assertiveness and promote a rule-based regional order.
Their strong defense partnership remains intact, even amid disputes over source code access. Joint drills, shared intelligence, and expanding industrial ties show their long-term strategic cooperation.
Conclusion
The Rafale-M agreement has made India a crucial maritime security partner for France, in keeping with Paris’ strategic shift towards the Indo-Pacific in response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and military buildup throughout the region.
This bilateral synergy becomes even more critical in 2025 due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the resurgence of unrest in the Middle East, and the growing military, diplomatic, and economic rivalry between the United States and China.
India is seeking access to the source code for the Rafale in order to future-proof its combat air fleet, guarantee flexibility in rapidly evolving threat environments, and defend against peer adversaries with advanced capabilities.
By fusing its own technological innovation with imported high-performance systems, India is headed towards becoming an independent defense force capable of influencing regional stability and navigating the difficulties of great power competition in the twenty-first century.
References
- Defence Security Asia – https://tinyurl.com/India -Rafale-DSA
- India.com – https://tinyurl.com/India-Rafale-Code
- India Sentinels – https://tinyurl.com/Rafale-IndiaSentinels
- Economic Times – https://tinyurl.com/Rafale-Pakistan-ET
- Janes – https://tinyurl.com/RafaleM-Janes
- Indian Express – https://tinyurl.com/RafaleM-Deal-IE
- Dassault Aviation – https://tinyurl.com/RafaleM-Dassault
