3 Rafale fighter jets landed at Indian Air Force Base from France

New Delhi| “Three Rafale fighter jets landed in India on Wednesday night after flying non-stop from France,” an Indian Air Force official said. The three fighters will join the existing fleet of eight Rafale aircraft. “The third batch of Rafale aircraft landed at an Indian Air Force base in the day after I missed a flight from France’s Istress Air Base,” an Indian Air Force official said. He flew more than 7,000 km with in-flight refueling.

The Rafale fighter aircraft is manufactured by the French company Dassault Aviation.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Indian Embassy in France tweeted that three more Rafale jet aircraft to India with air refueling have come from Istress as non-stop flights.

The Indian Embassy said congratulations to our amazing pilots for a smooth flight and safe landing with superb fighter jets.

The Indian Air Force will now have 11 Rafale jets in service along with three more aircraft. In addition, pilots of the Indian Air Force are being trained in batches at Saint-Desier Air Base in France.

India received its first batch of five Rafale aircraft on 29 July 2020, which were inducted into the 17 ‘Golden Arrow’ Squadron on 10 September at Ambala Air Base.

The second batch of Rafale fighter jets arrived in India on 4 November 2020 after flying non-stop from France.

India had signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to purchase 36 Rafale jets at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore