India and France on Thursday addressed military contracts and civil nuclear safety in a conference between External Affairs Minister S.M Krishan and visiting counterpart, Alain Juppe.

France has won a multi–billion contract for installing nuclear power plants in Western India, decided to fasten co-operation between the civil nuclear regulatory boards of the two countries.

Nuclear Safety has been on top of the Indian Agenda after the Fukushima radiation leak and fire in a French nuclear waste dump. There was a need for assurance concerning how reliable the patented technology France presses to use in installing the plants.

On the Defense side, the two sides highlighted the joint development of a short-range missile which will be applied as the final solution for protecting vital installations from air invasions. They went ahead talking about the induction of French technology for the Kavari engine, which was being locally made but facing many challenges.

The period when this meeting took place fell coincidentally to the time when the two armies got involved with Shakti drills – for the first time. The terrestrial war games add to the usual held joint naval drills which is under the ‘Varuna’ and ‘Ganuda’ series by the two air forces.

India and France also approved the agreement to improve on the IAF Mirage 2000 aircraft. The Rs. 11000–Crore deal for the improvement was signed jointly by Dassult Aviation and Thales not too long ago.

The IAF possess 51 Mirage 2000s in its stock, acquired in the 1980s, and improvement plans include multimode Doppler radar, modern glass cockpit, fully integrated electronic warfare suite and beyond visual range missiles.

Both Ministers have acknowledged the ongoing bid to conclude on the joint defense research and development both for the Kaveri and Short–Range Surface–to–Air Missile (SR–SAM). The DRDO desires to jointly develop SR-SAM after the experience gained from the Trishul missile.