2024-09-27 23:40:23
Paris: The Indian Navy and Dassault Aviation are close to finalizing the deal for 26 Rafale M fighter aircraft. Dassault hopes that India can become the second largest operator of Rafale fighter planes if it gets the contract to supply 114 fighter planes under the Medium Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA). On the first is France itself.
India is a big customer of Dassault
Dassault Aviation is setting up a maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Uttar Pradesh for French-origin fighter aircraft in the Indian Air Force (IAF). The Indian Air Force operates 50 Mirage-2000 aircraft from Dassault, inducted in the 1980s, and 36 Rafale fighter aircraft inducted over the years.
So India will have 176 Rafale!
If this wish of Dassault Aviation is fulfilled then it will be the biggest among all defense deals. This could expand India’s Rafale fleet to 176 jets. In comparison, the French Air Force operates 185 Rafales, while the French Navy has 46 Rafale-Ms. The Indian Navy’s requirement may also increase if India’s second aircraft carrier comes into service before the twin-engine deck-based fighter aircraft being built by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
Indian Navy will leave behind French Navy
Dassault’s projections for 2040 include the expectation that the Indian Navy could overtake the French Navy to become the largest operator of Rafale M fighter aircraft. Dassault is expected to get additional orders for 31 Rafale M fighter aircraft from India. The Indian Navy had initially planned to buy 57 of these French aircraft, but this has been reduced to 26 units after DRDO assured timely supply of TEDBF.
Rafael was looking for a customer for a long time
French multirole fighter jet Rafale could not find a buyer for a long time. Apart from modest orders from Egypt and Qatar, Rafale’s order book had nothing to be proud of. Dassault faced disappointment from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Kuwait, Singapore and Switzerland. The main reason for this was the Rafale price.
Demand increased in the world as soon as India bought it
When the Indian Air Force (IAF), the world’s fourth largest, chose the Rafale over the Eurofighter Typhoon in 2012, it led to a flood of orders for the French fighter jet. Since then, the UAE has signed a historic deal for 80 Rafales. The first prototype of the Rafale flew on May 19, 1991, and the first Rafale F1 was delivered to the French Navy exactly a decade later, on May 18, 2001.