Under the proposed deal, India will purchase 18 off-the-shelf Rafale fighter jets from French defence giant Dassault Aviation, while the remaining 96 fighter jets will be made in India.
With the recently published Pentagon report raising security concerns with claims that China has built a large 100-home civilian village inside disputed territory between China's Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and India's Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), defence analysts believe that India needs to keep its guard up.
Another batch of Rafale takes to the skies on a nonstop flight to India with midair refueling by (the) UAE. Indian Air power grows further!!” the Indian Embassy in Paris tweeted. The embassy also posted a video of the jets taking off from an airbase.
Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his 'courage and decisiveness', the minister said the Rafale jets were purchased only because the PM took the right decision to get them through an Inter-Governmental Agreement with France, after the long pending procurement case for them could not progress.
This is the first batch of 36 Rafale fighter jets for which India had signed an inter-governmental agreement with France in 2016 for Rs 58,000 crore.
Continuing his tirade against PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi said the Prime Minister had performed a 'bypass surgery' in the Rafale deal.
The Supreme Court on December 14 last year gave a clean chit to the Centre on the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France, saying that no probe was required in the matter.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi had slammed the Prime Minister earlier on Sunday for accusing the opposition over the delay in the procurement of the Rafale fighter aircraft.
From the price agreed on to selection of the offset partner, the Rafale deal has however been mired in row on several fronts.
The CAG report said India has managed to save 17.08 per cent money for the India Specific Enhancements in the 36 Rafale contract, compared to the 126 aircraft deal.
