ISTRES, France: India took delivery Wednesday of the first two refitted Mirage fighter jets out of a total 51 in the pipeline at a ceremony at the Istres airbase in southern France, as talks for more modern Rafales dragged on.

Signed in 2011 after five years of talks, the contract is worth 1.4 billion euros to be shared by Thales and Dassault, according to an Indian Defense Ministry document cited by the French business website LaTribune.fr.

The deal involves the upgrades of the rest of the 51 jets to be carried out in the Indian city of Bangalore by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Dassault’s Indian partner, under the Rafale contract.

“India is Dassault Aviation’s top export customer and the historical ties we have maintained with the Indian air force for 60 years continue to strengthen,” Dassault CEO Eric Trappier told AFP.

India was Dassault’s first export client with the transfer of the Ouragon fighter jet in 1953.

“The Rafale is the next logical step,” said Trappier, referring to negotiations begun in January 2012 for the sale of 126 fighter planes worth $12 billion.

Two missing after navy plane crashes

An Indian navy surveillance aircraft has crashed into the sea off the country's western coast and two of the three people on board are missing. Navy spokesman Rahul Sinha said Wednesday that one officer on board has been rescued. A search operation is underway for one missing pilot and another officer on board.

Sinha said the accident occurred Tuesday night during a routine training flight from the western base of Goa. The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

A series of accidents have plagued the Indian navy in recent years. A gas leak on an Indian navy destroyer being built at a Mumbai dockyard killed a navy commander in March last year, and a fire on a navy submarine killed two officers in February.

In 2013, another of the navy's Russian-made diesel-powered submarines caught fire after an explosion and sank at its home port in Mumbai, killing all 18 sailors on board.