Five Rafale jets land in India: All you need to know

Five Rafale jets land in India: All you want to know

NEW DELHI:      The new 5 Rafale combatants arrived in India on Wednesday and touched-down at the Ambala air base in Haryana after protecting a experience of 7,000-km from France. The experience covered a mid-air refueling and an overnight pit end in the UAE. The three single-seat and two twin-seat omni-role fighters, flown with the aid of seven IAF pilots of the 17 "Golden Arrows" squadron have been led via commanding officer Group Captain Harkirat Singh.

All you want to know:

THE MACHINE

With a fight vary of 780-km to 1,650-km relying on mission, the Rafales come armed with a lethal weapons package, superior avionics, radars and digital fighting structures to stop jamming with the aid of adversaries and make sure finest survivability in adverse contested airspace.

The Rafales are armed with 'Meteor' air-to-air missiles (120-150 km strike range), 'Scalp' air-to-ground cruise missiles (over 300 km) and different armaments.

The Meteor missiles are arguably the first-class in the world for air fight duels, with “a higher no-escape zone” for opposed combatants than any related BVR (beyond visible range) weapon. Pakistan and China do no longer presently have any missiles of this category in their fight inventories.

Each Rafale can additionally raise two fire-and-forget Scalp cruise missiles to hit high-value fortified goals properly over 300-km away.

India is planning to additionally equip its new Rafale fighter jets, which already have a lethal weapons package, with the “Hammer” air-to-ground precision-guided munitions amid the ongoing army disagreement with China in jap Ladakh.

The 20- to 70-km vary Hammers, designed to break bunkers, hardened shelters and different aims in all terrains such as the mountainous ones in jap Ladakh, will be procured beneath the emergency economic powers granted to the armed forces for the duration of the confrontation with China.

They will be capable to outgun and outrun Pakistani F-16 and JF-17 as properly as the Chinese Chengdu J-20 fighters.

The Rafales will additionally be geared up with the MICA weapon device which is built-in into IAF's Mirage 2000 aircraft. They are additionally succesful of handing over nuclear weapons.

The Air Base

The thirteen India-Specific Enhancements (ISEs) or enhancements on the 36 Rafales will turn out to be totally operational in 2022 after present process “software certification” after all the jets have arrived in India.

The improvements vary from radar enhancements, Israeli helmet-mounted shows and low-band jammers to towed decoy systems, 10-hour flight information recording and engine functionality for "cold start" from high-altitude areas like Ladakh. THE AIRBASE

The Ambala and Hashimara airbases will residence 18 every for the western and jap fronts.

The preparations to welcome this multirole flying desktop of IAF commenced in Ambala ultimate September, when the 17-Squadron, the "Golden Arrows", was once resurrected at the airbase to equip with Rafale aircraft. The 17-Squadron used to be fashioned in Ambala on October 1, 1951, below the command of Flight Lieutenant D L Springett and used to be geared up with Harvard-II B aircraft. By November 1955, the squadron transformed thoroughly to De Havilland Vampire and through 1957, Hawker Hunter plane had been flown through the 'Golden Arrows'.

The squadron transformed to the Mig-21 M in 1975 and actively participated in Goa Liberation Campaign in December 1961 and in 1965 operations as a reserve force.

THE DEAL

In 2016, the Defence Ministry of India signed a deal with France's Dassault Aviation for buy of 36 new Rafale fighter jets for 7.87 billion euro. All the 36 Rafales are slated to be delivered through end-2021.

In accordance with the contract, Indian Air Force pilots and helping personnel have been furnished full coaching on plane and weapon structures by means of Dassault. At least 12 IAF pilots have been educated in working Rafale. Further batches of IAF pilots will proceed education over the subsequent 9 months.

The jets have arrived two a long time after IAF first demanded such fighters, and an severe BJP-Congress political dogfight over corruption allegations in the ultimate couple of years.

The opposition Congress birthday celebration accused the BJP govt of shopping for the plane at a charge greater than what used to be being negotiated with the aid of a Congress-led govt earlier than PM Narendra Modi got here to energy in 2014. On November 14, 2019, the Supreme Court of India rejected petitions in search of a probe into the matter.