India and France to finalise ₹3,200 crore deal for SCALP cruise missiles

Key facts

• India and France are negotiating a defence deal worth approximately 300 million euros (₹3,200 crore) for the procurement of SCALP long-range cruise missiles for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
• The SCALP missile, also known as Storm Shadow, is an air-launched cruise missile with a strike range exceeding 250 kilometres, designed for deep-penetration attacks against high-value targets.
• The IAF operationally deployed SCALP missiles during Operation Sindoor on 6-7 May to strike terrorist headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in Pakistan’s Muridke and Bahawalpur districts.
• Operation Sindoor involved the use of SCALP missiles alongside BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, HAMMER precision-guided bombs, and loitering munitions to target nine terror-linked sites.
• The IAF targeted 12 major air bases and destroyed high-value assets, including fighter jets and surveillance aircraft, during the cross-border precision strike.
• The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is also in the process of ordering Meteor air-to-air missiles for the Rafale fleet, including the 26 Rafale Marine fighters ordered for the Indian Navy.
• The IAF is preparing a proposal for the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) to acquire 114 additional Rafale combat aircraft to increase its projected fleet strength to 200 aircraft over the next 15 years.
• The SCALP missile system uses a combination of Inertial Navigation, Global Positioning System (GPS), and terrain-reference navigation with an infrared imaging seeker for pinpoint accuracy.