The second consignment of Rafale fighter jet reached Jamnagar airbase in Gujarat on Wednesday evening. Fighter jets have arrived after a non-stop flight from France, taking the total number of aircraft in the fleet to eight. Officials gave this information. Earlier, the first batch of five Rafale jets reached India on 29 July. This was nearly four years after India’s agreement with France, which included the purchase of 36 aircraft at a price of Rs 59,000 crore.
The Indian Air Force tweeted that the second batch of IAF Rafale has arrived in India after a non-stop flight from France at 8:14 pm on 4 November 2020. The first batch of Rafale jets were in the Indian Air Force on 10 September.
All aircraft will be covered by 2023
On October 5, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadoria told that all 36 Rafale jets will be inducted by 2023. The Rafale jet is known for its superior performance and accurate strike in the air. This is the first major acquisition of fighter aircraft by India after 23 years when the Sukhoi jet was brought from Russia.
The new Aya fleet is in eastern Ladakh, where the Indian and Chinese military have been in conflict for more than five months.
CAIT accuses Amazon of violating FEMA rules, demands immediate action from the government
How deadly is Rafale?
- Rafale is a two-engine fighter jet.
- Rafale jets are capable of carrying many weapons. It is also capable of flying with nuclear weapons.
- Rafael’s Weapon packages feature in the ‘Meteore Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile’ of Europe’s missile maker MBDA and ‘Scalp Cruise Missile’ capable of the air-to-ground hit. Rafael’s Scalp Missile has a range of about 300 km.
- Apart from missile systems, Rafale jets will be equipped with many India specific modifications. These include Israeli helmet-mounted displays, radar warning receivers, low band jammers, 10-hour flight data recording, infrared search and tracking systems, etc.
- The Rafale aircraft has a carrying capacity of 9500 kg and is capable of flying an additional 60 hours with a maximum weight of up to 24,500 kg.
- Rafael is 15.27 meters tall and 5.3 meters high. Its fuel capacity is about 17 thousand kilograms.
- Rafael can fly up to 60 thousand feet altitude in a minute. Rafale can fly at a speed of 2,223 km per hour.
- Rafale radar can detect 40 targets at a time within 100 km. With this, the Indian Air Force will be able to see them without knowing the enemy aircraft.