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French super fighter Rafale
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that India had agreed to buy 36 Rafale combat jets from France, but the financial details of the deal have yet to be worked out. It is expected that the final contract for the 36 aircraft, including its missile system and others, would cost around Rs 60,000 crore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that India had agreed to buy 36 Rafale combat jets from France, but the financial details of the deal have yet to be worked out. It is expected that the final contract for the 36 aircraft, including its missile system and others, would cost around Rs 60,000 crore.
A high-level French team is set to meet senior officials of the Navy soon to brief them about the naval version of fighter jet Rafale as India works on the design of its next indigenous aircraft carrier - Vishal.
Indian Air Force had said in 2012 it would need at least six squadrons comprising 108 Rafale or similar jets to shore up its capabilities. The Rafale entered service with the French Navy in 2004 and with the French Air Force in 2006. Ten aircraft are operational on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.
For India, Rafale emerged as the preferred aircraft from among various contenders for what is being called the biggest military aviation contract in the world. Its closest contender was Eurofighter's Typhoon.
According to Zbigniew Mazurak's Blog, Rafale has already proven itself in three different wars. In Afghanistan, it performed numerous ground strikes against the Taliban. In Libya, it successfully evaded Qaddafi’s woefully obsolete 1960s-vintage Soviet air defense systems and led the fight against his regime.
Most recently, in Mali, the Rafale flew long distances to perform strikes against Islamic insurgents. Thus, the Rafale is a veteran of three wars despite entering service only a little more than a decade ago, a stark distinction to all of its competitors except the Super Hornet, none of which have seen any combat whatsoever.
The Rafale can carry more ordnance than any of its competitors, hands down. This diversity of missiles and seekers will allow a Rafale pilot to saturate his opponent in combat with a salvo of 3 different missiles at once (and remember, the Rafale can carry 13-14 missiles in total). This means his opponent, forced to duck one of the missiles, would be detected by another missile’s seeker, and thus be shot down.
Furthermore, the Rafale has the biggest gun on the market (ex aequo with Sukhoi aircraft): a hefty 30mm GIAT gun firing incendiary rounds. This makes the Rafale an excellent choice for both air to air and air to ground combat.
