The first five omni-role Rafale fighters touched down at the Ambala airbase last week, with defence minister Rajnath Singh seizing the opportunity to warn those who threaten India’s territorial integrity. The Rafale jets, which have a decidedly deadly weapons package and can also deliver nuclear weapons, however, are not going to be deployed any time soon in the ongoing military confrontation with China.
It will take at least a couple of months, if not more, for the 4.5-generation Rafales to settle down in the 17 ‘Golden Arrows’ Squadron in Ambala and then be integrated into the IAF’s warfighting machinery after tactics and operational procedures are developed for them in Indian conditions, IAF officers said.
The government celebrated the arrival of the fighters. PM Narendra Modi welcomed the Rafales by tweeting a short video of the combat jets landing in Ambala and a Sanskrit shloka which said protecting the nation was the biggest of all virtues. Rajnath Singh marked the occasion with a combative tweet which was seen by many as aimed at China. “I would like to add that if anyone should be worried about or critical about this new capability of IAF, it should be those who want to threaten our territorial integrity,” he said.
All 36 Rafales to be delivered by 2021-end
All 36 Rafales, under the £5.90 billion deal inked with France in September 2016, will be delivered by end-2021. The first five were received by Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria and Western Air Command chief Air Marshal B Suresh in Ambala on Wednesday last week.
The first fighters of western origin since the Mirage-2000s were inducted from France in the mid-1980s, the twin-engine Rafales pack quite a punch. Once armed with their ‘Meteor’ air-to-air missiles (120-150 km strike range), ‘Scalp’ air-to-ground cruise missiles (over 300 km) and other armaments, they will be able to outgun their Pakistani and Chinese rivals such as F-16s, JF-17s and J-20s.
The 8,500 km flight was smooth for the five Rafales flown by IAF pilots all the way from Merignac in France, with mid-air refuelling, a stopover in the UAE, and a warm welcome of ‘may you touch the sky with glory’ by Indian destroyer INS Kolkata deployed in the Arabian Sea and finally an escort by two Sukhois as they entered Indian airspace on Wednesday.
But the acquisition process itself faced a lot of turbulence right since the IAF first demanded 126 new medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) way back in September 2000.
The Modi government’s decision to go in for off-the-shelf purchase of 36 Rafales, without any ‘Make in India’ component after scrapping the earlier deadlocked MMRCA project, has witnessed a dogged BJP-Congress dogfight over corruption allegations for over two years now.
