India received its first batch of new multi-role fighter aircraft in two decades with the arrival of five Rafale jets, giving the country’s air power a strategic edge in the midst of a bitter border row with China in eastern Ladakh and frayed ties with Pakistan.

Five Rafale aircrafts arrived at Air Force Station, Ambala, nearly four years after India inked an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 Rafales.

The Ambala base is considered one of the most strategically located bases of the IAF as the Indo-Pak border is around 220 km from it.

The Rafale jets, known for air-superiority and precision strikes, are India’s first major acquisition of fighter planes in 23 years after the Sukhoi jets were imported from Russia in 1997.

8,500 km flight to India

The aircrafts took off from Dassault Aviation Facility in France’s Merignac on July 27 and reached India on July 30 with a planned stopover en-route at Al Dhafra air base in the UAE.

The ferry was planned in two stages and was undertaken by IAF pilots. The aircraft covered a distance of nearly 8,500 km from France to India. First stage of the flight covered a distance of 5,800 km in 7.5 hours. French Air Force (FAF) Tanker provided dedicated air-to-air refuelling support during the flight. 

The second stage of the flight covering over 2,700 km was carried out with air-to-air refuelling by IAF Tanker. 

Rafale to be part of 17 Squadron

The aircraft will be a part of 17 Squadron, the “Golden Arrows”, which was resurrected on September 10, 2019. The Squadron was originally raised at Air Force Station, Ambala in 1951. 

The 17 Squadron has many firsts to its credit. In 1955, it was equipped with the first jet fighter, the legendary De Havilland Vampire. 

In August 1957, the Squadron became the first to convert on to a swept wing fighter, the Hawker Hunter.

A formal induction ceremony of Rafale aircraft in 17 Squadron is scheduled to be held in the second half of August. 

Salient features of Rafale aircraft

The Rafale is a twin-jet fighter aircraft able to operate from both an aircraft carrier and a shore base. It is manufactured by France’s Dassault Aviation.

It is hailed for its “omnirole” capabilities. The medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) is able to carry out all combat aviation missions: air superiority and air defense, close air support, in-depth strikes, reconnaissance, anti-ship strikes and nuclear deterrence. 

Rafale aircraft will provide long range capability to engage targets in depth and will provide a strong weapons and systems capability edge over adversaries. 

It will provide IAF the strategic deterrence and requisite capability and  technological edge.

It is likely to replace the ageing MiG 21 fleet and to fill the gap between the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas and the Su-30 MKI.

Rafale deal

India began the process to buy a fleet of 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) in 2007 after the defence ministry, headed then by A.K. Antony, cleared the proposal from the IAF.

The contenders for the mega deal were Lockheed Martin’s F-16s, Eurofighter Typhoon, Russia’s MiG-35, Sweden’s Gripen, Boeing’s F/A-18s and Dassault Aviation’s Rafale.

After a long-drawn process, bids were opened in December 2012 and Dassault Aviation emerged as L-1 (lowest bidder). In the original proposal, 18 planes were to be manufactured in France and 108 in India in collaboration with the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

There were lengthy negotiations between the then UPA government and Dassault on prices and transfer of technology. The final negotiations continued till early 2014 but the deal could not go through.

During the visit of French President François Hollande to India in January 2016, the NDA government inked a Rs 59,000-crore deal to procure 36 Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation.

The final deal includes weapons, training, repair facilities and spares package, among other things. Dassault is contractually committed to provide performance-based logistic support for five years to two squadrons against the earlier proposal to support only one. Also, it has to ensure that a minimum of 75 per cent of the IAF fleet remains operationally available.

There is the ‘offsets’ clause in the contract to promote indigenisation and to ensure that for every dollar that went to a foreign arms supplier, 30-50 per cent got infused back into India for a defence-related investment or activity.

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