The Air Force has refused to respond to a query under the Right to Information Act seeking details of the Rafale deal, saying the information is confidential, PTI reported on Sunday. On September 23, Indian and French authorities had signed an agreement through which France would supply New Delhi with 36 fighter aircraft, along with maintenance support and other deliverables.

The Air Force responded to PTI’s RTI query saying the details held by it were in “fiduciary capacity”, and making the information public would also make it available to its “adversaries”. “No larger public interest is served by disclosure of such information. Hence, the same is denied,” the Air Force said.

PTI had asked the Defence Ministry to provide copies of the agreement and financial details of the deal. The query was then forwarded to the Air Force.

The aircraft will be delivered between September 2019 and April 2022. According to the agreement, India will also get spare aircraft, Meteor missiles and other weaponry from France’s Dassault Aviation, which makes the jets.