Military Rafale
(Left) IAF Rafale aircraft touching down at Air Force Station Hasimara during the induction ceremony on July 28, 2021; (right) Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria, interacting with Rafale pilots of 101 Sqn.
Rafale Operationalised as Delivery Progresses India receives the seventh batch of Rafale aircraft, making the total fleet as 24 out of the 36 from the deal
Photographs: IAF
By Ayushee Chaudhary Three more Rafale aircraft arrived in India in July 2021 following a direct ferry from France’s Istres Air Base. The seventh batch reached India after covering a non-stop distance of almost 8,000 km from France. Prior to this, the sixth batch was received in May this year. With the addition of the latest three, the total number of Rafale in the Indian Air Force (IAF) have reached to 24. The first batch of five Rafale aircraft had arrived one year ago in July 2020 at Air Force Station, Ambala, while the latest batch would be based in Hasimara airbase in West Bengal. The new batch of the aircraft will be part of IAF’s second squadron of the Rafale jets. The first five were a part of 17 Squadron, the Golden Arrows. A formal induction ceremony of those aircraft was held in August 2020.
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ISSUE 7 • 2021
While the first batch’s ferry was planned in two stages, covering a distance of nearly 8,500 km, where the French Air Force (FAF) Tanker provided dedicated air-to-air Refuelling support during the flight, in the recent non-stop journey, the aircraft received mid-air refueling by the United Air Emirates (UAE) Air Force. In April 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the purchase of 36 Rafale jets after talks with the then French President Francois Hollande during his visit to the country. A deal was finalised when Hollande visited New Delhi to participate in the Republic Day celebrations in January 2016. The arrival of the aircraft comes two decades after IAF first demanded such fighters.
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