New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, his French counterpart Florence Parly and India’s top military brass will attend Thursday a ceremony at Ambala airbase. The ceremony will be conducted to formally induct five Rafale fighter jets into the Indian Air Force (IAF), officials said. The Rafale fighter jets are a new addition to the IAF and arrived in India in July.
Parly and Singh will hold talks in Ambala on ways to further deepen bilateral defence and security cooperation, informed officials. The French defence minister is scheduled to arrive Thursday morning and will depart late afternoon.
The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived July 29 in India. India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 of the aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore nearly four years back. The jets, produced by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, are yet to be formally inducted into the IAF.
Ten Rafale jets have been delivered to India so far. Five of them stayed back in France for imparting training to IAF pilots. The delivery of all 36 aircraft is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021. A second batch of four to five Rafale jets is likely to arrive in India by November.
The Rafale jets, known for air-superiority and precision strikes, are India’s first major acquisition of fighter planes in 23 years. The last were the Sukhoi jets that were imported from Russia.
The Rafale jet is capable of carrying a range of potent weapons. European missile maker MBDA’s Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile and Scalp cruise missile will be the mainstay of the weapons. Meteor is a next generation beyond visual range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) designed to revolutionise air-to-air combat. The weapon has been developed by MBDA to combat common threats facing the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden.
Out of 36 Rafale jets, 30 will be fighter jets and six will be trainers. The trainer jets will be twin-seater and they will have almost all the features of the fighter jets.
The first squadron of the Rafale jets will be stationed at Ambala air base. The second one on arrival will be based at Hasimara base in West Bengal. The new fleet will be part of the 17 Squadron of the IAF which was resurrected on September 10 last year.
PTI