Indian Air Force two-decade-long wait for a new fighter aircraft may end soon with the first batch of five Rafale fighter jets scheduled to land at the Ambala airbase on Wednesday after covering a distance of more than 7,000 km. The jets took-off from France on Monday.
The focus of the IAF is now on speedy operationalisation of these state-of-the-art planes in view of the ongoing tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.
The last induction of a versatile plane was about 18 years back when the IAF got frontline SU-30 planes manufactured by Russia. The arrival of the Rafales comes at a time when the India and China are engaged in dialogue to end the more than eight-week off stand-offs at the LAC in Eastern Ladakh. Both the sides have ramped up their troops strength at the LAC besides deploying heavy weapons
After the formal induction of the newly arrived Rafales takes place into No. 17 ‘Golden Arrows’ squadron at Ambala airbase some days later, the IAF team will work overtime to make the jets ready for deployment in a few weeks. This process is being undertaken given the confrontation at the border and the IAF already deploying its other frontline jets like SU-30, Mig-29s and Jaguars at forwards bases near the 4,000-km-long LAC, sources said here on Monday.
The first batch includes three single seater and two twin seater Rafale aircraft. After taking off from France, the planes flown by the Indian pilots will have stop over for a day in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and likely to land in Ambala on July 29. While French air tankers will refuel the jets mid-air enroute the UAE, the IAF mid air-refuellers will escort the Rafales from there till Indian airspace.
“This is going to add a great deal of strength to our air power and defence preparedness. But it is also a powerful symbol of the strategic partnership between India and France,” said Indian Ambassador in France Jawed Ashraf before the jets took off.
“These five Rafale jets are extremely swift, versatile & very deadly aircraft, they’re both beauty & beast. I would like to thank Dassault for delivering aircraft on time and French Government & French Air Force for all the support,” the ambassador said.
“Our pilots, who I just spoke to, are very excited. They are very proud to be flying the machines to India. It is going to be a long flight. It is a remarkable symbol of their professionalism, endurance and the skills that they have acquired during their training that they be able to do this with mid-air refuelling and just a single stop en route to India which is actually quite a long distance,” he stated. The five jets took off from Merignac airbase at Bordeaux in France.
“Delivery of 10 aircraft has been completed as per schedule. Five will stay back in France for training mission,” the Indian Embassy in France said in a statement adding, “Further batches of IAF personnel will continue the training over the next nine months.” Delivery of all 36 aircraft will be completed as per schedule by the end of 2021. French aerospace conglomerate Dassault has manufactured these jets.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in October last year on a visit to France for the 2nd India-France Ministerial level annual defence dialogue took formal delivery of the first Rafale jet built for India. The IAF pilots since then were undergoing training on the jets there.
During the defence dialogue, France agreed to consider the Indian request for 8-10 Meteor missiles to be given to India by 2020 with the first four aircraft.
The introduction of Meteor Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile with a range of over 160km, SCALP long-range stand-off attack air-to-ground missile and MICA multi-mission air-to-air missiles will add to the IAF firepower.
Moreover, as the border remains volatile, the IAF has decided to procure HAMMER (Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range) medium-range air-to-ground missiles for the Rafales from France.
This procurement is processed under the emergency powers given by the Defence Ministry to the Armed forces recently for off-the-shelf purchase of weapon systems up to ?300 crore.
At present, 12 IAF pilots and ground staff have received training on the Rafales and additional aircrew has undergone comprehensive training on the aircraft, including its highly advanced weapons systems, and are fully operational now, the IAF had stated.
These five jets are part of the 36 Rafale multi-role fighter jets contracted from France in fly-away condition with 13 India Specific Enhancements (ISE) under a seven billion Euro Inter-Governmental Agreement signed in September 2016.
The Rafale fighter jets are capable of carrying a range of highly effective weapons, including the Meteor air-to-air missile and Scalp cruise missile.
The planes come with various India-specific modifications, including Israeli helmet-mounted displays, radar warning receivers, low-band jammers, 10-hour flight data recording, infra-red search and tracking systems among others.