French firm, Dassault, which emerged victorious in India’s search for a supplier of fighter aircrafts in a multi-billion dollar deal, has told the government officials that there should be separate contracts for 18 aircrafts that will be flown to the country by Dassault and 108 aircraft to be produced by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in the country.

Pushing the $20-billion deal for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft deal to a standstill, the company said that it cannot be held responsible for the 108 aircrafts that are to be produced by HAL in the country. Dassault said that it will provide manufacturing kits and equipment to HAL ontime and the Indian firm will take over the contract and Dassault will have no further role to play in the deal.

The French aviation said in negotiations with the Indian government that there should be two separate contracts. The first one for the 18 aircrafts that are to be flown directly off the shelf by Dassault and another one for 108 jets tobeproduced by HAL under licence from Dassault.

The Ministry of Defence has voiced its opposition to this and maintained that Dassault will be completely responsible for the sale and delivery of all of the 126 aircrafts to the country. The deal will only be signed with Dassault and it will remain the single point of contract.