India to receive four Rafale Fighter Jets by July-end from France

New Delhi, May 15: Strengthening the Indian Air Force (IAF) amid the increasing interference by China and Pakistan, India is bracing itself to acquire the first four Rafale fighter aircraft by July-end this year from France. Earlier, the acquistion of Rafale jets was to be delivered by May end but was delayed due to the lockdown in both the countries.

 

 

“The first four aircraft including three twin-seater trainer aircraft and one single-seater fighter aircraft would start arriving by the end of July at the Ambala airbase. The trainers will have the tail numbers of the RB series in honour of the Air Force Chief RKS Bhadauria who played a pivotal role in signing India’s largest-ever defence deal for 36 Rafale combat aircraft,” defence sources were quoted as saying.

 

The Commanding Officer of the 17 Golden Arrows' squadron will be flying the the first aircraft along with a French pilot. Before making a stopover in the Middle East, they will be taking off to refuel the jets by a French Air Force tanker aircraft in the air while flying from France to India. The sources stated, "While on their way to India from the Middle East the jets would receive mid-air refuelling by the Indian IL-78 tanker."

 

China has been continuously engaging with Indian troops. The recent one being where China was locked up with India in an intense face-off near the Naku La sector (ahead of Muguthang Valley) pass at a height of over 5,000 metres in North Sikkim last week. 11 soldiers, including four Indians and seven Chinese, were injured on the Line of Actual Control.  So, the IAF has also started using combat aircraft to stop any airspace violation.

 

On the other hand, Pakistan is maintaining an aerial exercise as it is expecting a retaliation from Indian Force after Handwara attack. It has increased patrolling involving its fighter jets including the F-16s and the JF-17 which are being constantly monitored by the Indian surveillance platform.

 

So, the arrival of Rafale fighter jets can prove fatal to have edge over these nations.

 

In September 2016, India had signed a deal with France for the acquisition of 36 Rafale multi-role fighter jets in a fly-away condition along with 13 India Specific Enhancements (ISE) under a €7.87 billion (Rs. 60,000 crore) Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA).

 

It was reported earlier that the arrival of jets was postponed given the coronavirus crisis. “In mid-March, there were 8-9 weeks of training left before the first major group could move to India for starting operations here. Some logistic support equipment and test equipment were also to be flown to Ambala beginning April, which is postponed as of now due to the lockdown and restrictions on flights imposed by India,” a defence source had said in an interview.

  

Last year in October, on a visit to France for the second India-France ministerial-level annual defence dialogue, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh took formal delivery of the first Rafale jet built for the IAF at the Dassault Aviation’s facility in Merignac. At that time, the Defence Ministry had stated that during the dialogue the “French side has agreed to consider the Indian request for 8-10 Meteor missiles to be given to India by 2020 with the first four aircraft”.