Sixteen Rafale Fighter Jets To Land In India By April

Saturday, October 31, 2020

The strike capacity of the Indian Air Force is set to increase with 16 Omni-roll Rafale jet fighters scheduled to be included in the Golden Arrow Squadron by April 2021. With France’s largest jet engine manufacturer Saffran ready to build combat engines and auxiliaries in India will also boost

Five Rafale jets flew from Abu Dhabi to Ambala airbase on July 29 and were already inducted into Squadron 17 of the Indian Air Force. The next batch of three Rafale will come to Ambala directly from the Bordeaux-Marignac facility on November 5. Seven Rafale fighter jets are already being used for training IAF fighter pilots in France.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, three more Rafale will arrive in January, three in March, and seven in April, the total number of fighter aircraft assigned to the IAF, 21 single-seat fighters and seven twin-seat trainer fighters. The remaining three can be dispatched to the Hashimara Airbase at Alipurduar in North Bengal to counter China’s threat on the Eastern Front. All fighter scallops are equipped with air-to-ground cruise missiles with mica and meteor air-to-air missiles. India has now requested Safran for an air-to-ground modular weapon with a 250 kg warhead.

Not only will the M-88 engines be used by Rafale fighter jets, but they can also be deployed for Light Combat Aircraft Mark II and twin-engined advanced multi-role combat aircraft. The Light Combat Aircraft Mark II and twin-engined advanced multi-role combat aircraft are developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

AF plans to buy 83 LCA Mark IA jets, taking the total number of Tejas variants to 123. Saffran is said to be willing to offer the engine with no third-country spare parts so that additional approval is not required and 100% indigenization. The French proposal is likely to discuss during Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla’s visit to France, UK, and Germany, starting in Paris this Thursday. While DRDO can continue to develop its combat engine, Safran will fill the gap between engine development and manufacture.

Only the United States, Russia, and France can produce fighter jet engines; China still can power its jet fighters such as the J-31 and JF-17 with Russian RD-93 and RD-33 engines.

Courtesy: Opera News/ DNA