‘Rafale deal oxygen for IAF’
is willing to set up final assembly lines and establish supply chains and related infrastructure for military transport aircraft and helicopters in India, a press release said.
Modi also met Indian students and visited the French space agency, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales. He then flew to Lille where he paid tribute to 4,700 Indians killed during World War 1 at Neuve Cheppelle — the first Indian PM to visit the memorial. Back in Paris, he addressed the diaspora at a massive gathering telecast live to five French territories across continents that are home to nearly three lakh people of Indian origin. PANAJI / NEW DELHI: Defence minister Manohar Parrikar Saturday called the deal to buy 36 Rafale jets from France “oxygen” for the Indian Air Force even as the government came under fire from a senior BJP leader over the move.
The decision to buy the French fighters in “fly-away condition”, announced after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s talks with President Francois Hollande in Paris on Friday, is aimed at making up a critical shortfall in the combat strength of the IAF — which is operating with 34 squadrons of 18 aircraft each against a requirement of 45 squadrons.
“IAF will get minimum oxygen it requires with this deal... In fact, we have not purchased any major new generation aircraft in 17 years,” Parrikar said, adding that the induction may take two years “as fly-away doesn’t mean we will get them tomorrow”.
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