France to keep tech out of Pak access

NEW DELHI: When the French President’s diplomatic advisor Emmanuel Bonne landed in India for a strategic dialogue on January 7, one of the key asks from the Indian Air Force was that the Rafale fighter’s technology, especially its missile capability, be kept away from Pakistan. India conveyed to Bonne that even though Dassault Aviation, manufacturer of Rafale fighter, is selling the omni-role platform Rafale to Qatar, Paris should ensure that no Pakistaniorigin person is given access to the plane by Doha.

Paris hasn’t just assured India that Rafale technology, specially that related to the Meteor air-to-air missile will be kept out of reach of Pakistan, but also that it will no longer upgrade the Mirage 3/5 fighters or Augusta 90 B submarines in Islamabad’s military inventory. India sought these iron clad guarantees after it burnt its fingers during Pakistani Air Force retaliation on February 27, 2019, a day after the Balakot strike.

Pakistan reneged on its promise to the US that it would only use F-16 in the war against terror and not against India. It was an 75-km range air-to-air missile, fired from a Pakistani F-16, that brought down Wing Commander Abhinandan’s Mig-21 Bison interceptor on LoC in the Rajouri-Mendhar sector. According to former Air Force Chiefs and Air Marshals, had IAF not practised with premise that Pakistan would use F-16 and beyond visual range missiles against India, more Indian fighters would have been knocked down on that day.