The Ministry of Defence expects to decide by the end of this year on acquiring 114 additional Rafale jets for the Indian Air Force from French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation.Dassault Aviation has submitted its commercial bid to manufacture a bulk of the aircraft in India. “The bids are being evaluated. We should be able to reach some conclusion before the end of this year,” Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh told news agency ANI.The aircraft would have significant levels of indigenisation, along with the integration of Indian systems and weapons. The aircraft maker has agreed to integrate Indian weapons on the 114 jets as well as on the already contracted naval version of the Rafale.On the possibility of acquiring an imported fifth-generation fighter jet as a stop-gap arrangement until the indigenous Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) is ready, the Defence Secretary said, “As of now, we haven’t taken a decision to go in for any global or outside fifth-generation aircraft. Our programme is AMCA, and we are putting all our eggs in this basket as of now.”On the sixth-generation fighter aircraft programme, the Defence Secretary said there is one programme involving the UK, Japan and Italy, and another being developed by France.“We had expressed interest in both. But we are veering around to the French, since we have a large inventory of French aircraft. It is something we should examine. We are pursuing discussions with the French, and we’ll see how that goes.”On the next-generation Tejas Mark 2 fighter, a significant upgrade over the existing Tejas jets, the Defence Secretary said, “The first flight is scheduled for the middle of next year.”The Defence Secretary also spoke about defence exports, saying, “BrahMos is a kind of benchmark for our export story. We’ve got contracts or agreements to sell to the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.”The system has been proven in battle during Operation Sindoor. “There is tremendous potential for this particular system, and I hope that this will continue to be one of the anchors of our export momentum. The exports should be about $100 million to start with for Vietnam, and for Indonesia, it should be around $200 million.”On the much-awaited status of the submarine programme, Rajesh Kumar Singh said that both the programme involving collaboration with German company TKMS and the acquisition of additional Scorpene submarines are being considered.The Indo-German project is in its final stage and is awaiting a final decision by the competent authority. Additional Scorpene submarines are also being considered. “It is not as advanced as the other one, but that is also under consideration,” he said.The Defence Secretary said the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) has recently developed a highly advanced indigenous integrated combat system for submarines. “We are going to start putting that in all of our submarines over time, as they come in for refits.”