NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India signed a deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France on Friday for around $8.7 billion (6.68 billion pounds), the country's first major acquisition of combat planes in two decades and a boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to rebuild an ageing fleet.
The air force is down to 33 squadrons, against its requirement of 45 to face both China, with which it has a festering border dispute, and nuclear-armed rival Pakistan.
