The first batch had arrived in India on July 29 (Archive)
New Delhi:
The second batch of Rafale jets, the first Western fighter jet to join the fleet 23 years after Russia’s Sukhoi jet, arrived in India, the Air Force tweeted tonight. The planes had covered the more than 7,000 kilometers flying nonstop from France, the IAF published after the three planes landed.
Delivery had started almost four years after India signed an intergovernmental agreement with France to acquire 36 aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.
Induction of the 36 jets will be completed in 2023, said Air Chief of Staff, Marshal RKS Bhadauria.
Second batch of IAF #Rafale The planes arrived in India at 8:14 pm on November 4, 20, after flying nonstop from France.
– Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) November 4, 2020
The first batch of five aircraft arrived in India on July 29. At that time, the planes had been refueled in the air and had stopped at Al-Dhafra air base in the United Arab Emirates.
Around 3 in the afternoon, they landed with a special water cannon at Ambala air base.
“Welcome home ‘Golden Arrows’. Blue skies always,” the Indian Air Force tweeted with a photo of the Rafale in the “Arrow Formation. The IAF also tweeted an audio clip of the Rafale fleet’s exchange with a naval warship as they crossed the Indian Ocean.
The fleet, made up of three single-seater and two two-seater aircraft, would be part of the 17th Squadron of the Air Force, also known as ‘Golden Arrows’.
The planes were the highlight of the Air Force’s 88th anniversary last month. The newly incorporated fleet has also been conducting forays into eastern Ladakh, where Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a bitter confrontation for months.
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