FIRST MADE FOR INDIA RAFALE SET TO SOAR THIS MONTH
India in September 2019. In a reply given to the Rajya Sabha in July this year, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said: “Delivery of Rafale fighter jets in a fly-away condition along with associated equipment and weapons will commence from September 2019 and will be completed by April 2022.”
These jets have 13 India specific enhancements. These i nclude helmet mounted display, low band jammer, radar enhancement, radio altimeter, towed decoy system and ability to start and operate from high altitude air space.
This month’s scheduled inaugural flight follows soon after Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s visit to France, during which she went to Argenteuil, where the manufacturing plant of Dassault Aviation, makers of the fighter planes, is located.
Even as the inaugural flight is all set to take place, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday met HAL ( Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) employees, claiming that Dassault Aviation, the French manufacturer, which makes the Rafale jet, has been pressured by the government to select the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence as its offset partner, instead of state-run HAL.