India has taken delivery for the first of 36 Rafale fighter jets ordered from France in 2016 in a multi-billion-dollar deal that the French government. The remaining 36 jets are expected to arrive in India by September 2022.
It signed a deal in 2016 to buy 36 Rafales from France, but delivery has been held up by corruption allegations leveled by the opposition Congress party. The delay has prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accuse Congress of undermining the country’s security as they are quite vital in the security of India especially in her shared territory with Pakistan.
The corruption allegations are mainly fueled by the change of contract from the original agreed upon in 2012. French plane-maker Dassault in 2012 won a contract negotiated under a Congress-led government in 2012 to supply 126 jets to India, with some built in France and the rest in India by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. But on a visit to France in 2015, Modi scrapped the deal, replacing it with an order for 36 jets – all to be built in France. The deal was estimated to be worth $9.4 billion (€8.5 billion) at the time.
India, which in February fought air battles with Pakistan over their shared territory of Kashmir, is seeking to renew its aging fleet of Jaguar, Mirage 2000, Sukhoi 30, and Mig-21 and 27 jets.
The 36 Indian Rafales will be based in Ambala, near Kashmir and the Pakistani border, and at Hasimara in West Bengal state near the border with Bhutan.
