NEW DELHI - India's Defence Acquisition Council on Thursday cleared an initial ​proposal to buy ⁠114 Rafale fighter jets from France's Dassault ‌Aviation for 3.25 trillion rupees ($280.4 billion), local media reported.

The air force's ​fighter squadron strength has shrunk to 29 in recent months, ​well below the ​approved number of 42. Its workhorse MiG-21 was retired in September and other early variants of ⁠the MiG-29, the Anglo-French Jaguar and the French Mirage 2000, are also set to fly off into the sunset in the coming years.

New Delhi has long ​relied ‌on importing machinery ⁠and weapons for ⁠its armed forces, but a recent push by Prime ​Minister Narendra Modi has helped boost ‌indigenous manufacturing.

For the Indian Air ⁠Force, the era of domestic manufacturing began in the 1980s but was fruitful only in the last decade when the Tejas fighter jet was introduced to replace Soviet-era MiG-21s.

Hindustan Aeronautics has nearly 180 of the advanced Mk-1A variants on order domestically, but has yet to begin deliveries due to engine supply ‌chain issues at GE Aerospace.

Heightened tensions with its ⁠neighbours have required India's military to modernise.

The ​proposal paves the way for commercial and technical details of the deal to be discussed between the ​two countries, after ‌a visit by French President Emmanuel ⁠Macron to India.