INDIA WELCOME RAFALE

INDIA WELCOME RAFALE

By- Prakash Sharma |Aug 1, 2020| Indian Air Force

“RAFALE - THE DESTROYER”

“होसलो की उड़ान भरकर तूफान अभी बाकी है

अभी सिर्फ पांच आये और इक्कतीस अभी बाकी है”

By Prakash Sharma

With the advent of new technologies around various sectors among the nation the defence sector also develop and innovate to gain the strategic capabilities in order to meet the future emerging threats. “Dassault Rafale - The Multirole Fighter Aircraft” meaning “gust of wind & burst of fire” is a French based twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by the Dassault Aviation. It is to be referred as a “omnirole” aircraft by Dassault.

Rafale is equipped with a wide range of weapons and intended to perform air supremacy, interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions. The Rafale was one of the six aircraft competing in the India MRCA Competition for the 126 multirole fighters. On 23rd December 2016 Indian Defence Ministry along with the French Government signed a €7.8 billion Contract for the 36 Rafale Fighter Jet. Forty-six months after the €7.87 billion contract was signed, the first five of 36 Rafale fighter jets landed at the Ambala airbase on Wednesday afternoon of 29.07.2020 and the crew were welcomed by Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Air Chief Marshal (ACM) R.K.S. Bhadauria. This is the first imported fighter to be inducted into service since Sukhkoi 30s from Russia in the late 90s.

The five jets three single seat and two twin seated trainers were flown from France by IAF led by Commanding Officer of No. 17 – Golden Arrows Squadron Group Captain Harkirat Singh. The aircraft covered 8,500 km journey from France to India. In the first stage of the flight covered a distance of 5800 km in seven and half hour from France to United Arab Emirates (UAE) with mid- air refuellingsupport by French Air Force tanker aircraft. The second stage of the flight covering over 2700 km was carried out with air to air refuelling by IAF tanker aircraft.

Indian Air Force Multi-role fighters and strike aircrafts

1. Dassault Rafale- The first five air crafts including three single seater and two twin seater aircraft arrived on 29th July 2020, at the Air Force Station, Ambala. No 17 Squadron, the “Golden Arrows”, is being raised at this base equipped with Rafale aircraft.

2. Sukhoi Su-30MKI- The IAF's primary air superiority fighter with the additional capability to conduct air-ground (strike) missions is Sukhoi Su-30MKI. 272 Su-30MKIs are in service as of January 2020 and the production is complete.

3. Mikoyan MiG-29- The Mikoyan MiG-29 known as Baaz (Hindi for Hawk) is a dedicated air superiority fighter and constitutes a second line of defence after the Sukhoi Su-30MKI. 69 MiG-29s are in service, all of which have been recently upgraded to the MiG-29UPG standard.

4. Dassault Mirage 2000- The Dassault Mirage 2000, known as Vajra (Sanskrit for Diamond or thunderbolt) in Indian service, is the primary multirole fighter, the IAF currently operates 49 Mirage 2000Hs and 8 Mirage 2000 TH all of which are currently being upgraded to the Mirage 2000-5 MK2 standard with Indian specific modifications and 2 Mirage 2000-5 MK2 are in service as of March 2015.

5. HAL Tejas- The MiG-21s are planned to be replaced by the indigenously built HAL Tejas. The first Tejas IAF unit, No. 45 Squadron IAF Flying Daggers was formed on 1 July 2016 followed by No. 18 Squadron IAF "Flying Bullets" on 27 May 2020.

6. SEPECAT Jaguar- The SEPECAT Jaguar known as Shamsher serves as the IAF's primary ground attack force. The IAF currently operates 139 Jaguars.

7. Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21- The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 serves as an Interceptor aircraft in the IAF. The IAF have phased out most of its MiG-21s and plans to keep only 125 that have been upgraded to MiG-21 Bison standard.

Specifications & Technicalities

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