Indian Air Force received three Rafale fighter jets on November 4 which flew nonstop from France. After this, the IAF will have a total of eight Rafale jets out of the 36 Rafale jets in service. They were accompanied by French Air Force mid-air refuelling aircraft and will have three tanks in total.
The first batch of five Rafale jets were formally inducted into the No.17 ‘Golden Arrows’ squadron of the IAF on September 10 at the Ambala Air Force station. They arrived in India in July with a stopover at the Al Dhafra air base in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The five jets were flown in by Commanding Officer of No. 17 squadron Group Captain Harkirat Singh. They consist of three single seat and two twin-seater trainers.
The Indian Embassy in France had reportedly announced that all 36 aircrafts will be delivered as per schedule by 2021-end. The second squadron would be based at Hasimara in West Bengal.
India has contracted 36 Rafale omni-role fighter jets from France in fly-away condition with 13 India Specific Enhancements (ISE) under a €7.87-billion Inter-Governmental Agreement signed in September 2016.
