“Our air force has old aircraft, 1970s and 1980s generation aircraft and for the first time in about 25-30 years we will have a quantum jump in technology”, said defence analyst Gulshan Luthra.
Advertisement
India on Friday signed a contract to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from French defence major Dassault Aviation for around Rs.58,000 crore in an effort to modernise Indian Air Force’s ageing fleet. Actually, now the Air Force needs more strength.
Speaking on the Russia-Pakistan joint military drill, the Congress leader said, “After independence, this is the first time that Russia is having a joint exercise with Pakistan”.
Soon after the deal was signed, Parrikar said in a tweet: “Will significantly improve India’s strike and defence capabilities”.
France’s Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian inked the agreement with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar in New Delhi, ending nearly 18 months of wrangling over financial terms between New Delhi and Dassault Aviation, the jet’s manufacturer.
“When there is a complaint that the price is high, we chose to enquire about that”.
“When there was a complaint about high prices, we chose to inquire and wait for the final decision of Finance Ministry”, he said, adding, “So you can’t compare the Rafale deal price during UPA government’s time and now”. The India specific modifications would also include Israeli helmet mounted displays, ability to start at cold bases like Leh, better radar, better detection and survival features among others.
India had made a decision to ink the deal for 126 Rafale jets in 2012.
India entered exclusive negotiations on buying 126 Rafale jets four years ago, but the number of planes was scaled back in talks over the cost and assembly of the planes in India.
The contracts for the deal was also signed earlier today.
Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for not considering the technology transfer of the fighter jets, Antony said, “We had said we will purchase only 18 from France, off-the-shelf and the remaining 108 will be produced in India with HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited)”.
India’s huge arms imports are partly due to its failure to build a local industry to produce weapons.
He said the IAF is now down to 34 squadrons as against a sanctioned strength of 44 and the country needs more aircraft.
After the launch of “Make in India” programme in 2015, India emerged as the top destination globally for foreign direct investment, surpassing the United States of America as well as the People’s Republic of China.
Advertisement
The sources said the 36 Rafale procurement supports the “Make in India” initiative of the government through offsets. Find us on Facebook too!
