Three Rafale jets to land in India today, total count now at 14

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Mar 31, 2021:      India is set to get the fourth batch of three Rafale combat aircraft from France on Wednesday. The new three will join the Golden Arrows Squadron stationed at Ambala Air Force station.

 

On the way to India, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Force’s Airbus 330 multi-role transport tankers will provide air-to-air refuelling to the jets over the Gulf of Oman.

With the arrival of the new batch, the number of the Rafale aircraft will increase to 14.

Quoting sources in Rafale manufacturers Dassault Aviation, Hindustan Times reported that these three aircrafts will take off from Merignac airbase in France’s Bordeaux at 7am on March 31 and reach Gujarat around 7pm.

The IAF will get a second squadron of the Rafale combat aircraft in the middle of April and they will be based in Hasimara air base in West Bengal. India is expected to get more Rafale jets from France in the next couple of months.

A squadron comprises around 18 aircraft.

The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29; nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 of the aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.

The formal induction ceremony of the fleet had taken place at Ambala on September 10 last. A second batch of three Rafale jets arrived in India on November 3, while a third batch of three more jets joined the IAF on January 27.

India had ordered 36 of these fighter aircraft from France in September 2016 and by end of April, more than 50% of these fighters will have arrived in India.

After the planes were formally indicted in September, the second set of Rafale fighter jets reached India in November. The twin-engine Rafale jets are capable of carrying out a variety of missions such as ground and sea attack, air defence and air superiority, reconnaissance, and nuclear strike deterrence.

The delivery of all 36 aircraft is expected to get completed by the end of 2022.

India is now going to place orders for 114 multirole fighter aircraft along with the indigenously-developed stealth fighters Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft whose seven squadrons would join the Air Force in the next 15-20 years.

Courtesy:India Today