French Defence Minister to attend induction of Rafale fighter jets on Sept 10

Defence Minister of France Florence Parly will attend formal induction of five Rafale fighter jets along with counterpart Rajnath Singh and India’s top military brass on Thursday, reported news agency PTI quoted official sources.

The five Rafale jets, which arrived in India on July 29, will formally be inducted by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the Ambala airbase.

The French Defence minister will also conduct talks with Singh on ways to further deepen bilateral defence and security cooperation after the ceremony, as per the PTI report.

The French Defence minister is scheduled to arrive in India on Thursday.

The first batch of five Rafale fighter jets arrived in India on July 29, 4 years after India finalised an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 aircraft at a cost of  Rs 59,000 crore.

The jets, manufactured by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, are yet to be formally inducted into the IAF. 

Ten Rafale jets have been delivered to India so far and five of them stayed back in France for imparting training to IAF pilots. 

The delivery of all 36 aircraft will be completed by the end of 2021. 

The second batch of four to five Rafale jets will arrive in India by November.

Quoting sources PTI reported that a preliminary discussion on a possible procurement of another batch of 36 Rafale jets by India from France may figure in the talks between Defence Ministers Singh and Parly.