WHY RAFALE? 🤔
In the late 2004 IAF issued a RFI for a Medium Combat Aircraft and that started the turmoil of MMRCA program
>There were many contenders in MMRCA and one of them was the Dassault Rafale F3 , in April 2015 when our PM was on France visit, sought a G2G deal of 36 Rafales which was supervised by then Def. Minister Late Shri Manohar Parrikar . He sidelined the 126 Jet MMRCA deal to first focus on a G2G 36 Rafale deal . And it was signed on Sep, 2016 .
>In July, 2020 first batch arrived in flyaway condition (ALL were received in Flyaway ). And ohh god they were beauty ......
>And as the Dassault fever was On , Indian Navy too got their deal signed for 26 Rafale-M in April, 2025.⚓️
>After falling from a steep slope of decreasing Sqd. Strength ...GoI started talks for 114 Rafales for IAF ,after its unmatched performance in OP.SINDOOR🇮🇳, IAF was well aware of what to choose next keeping in mind the ecosystem and platform maturity the French beauty gained ....
But the route to this goes through an inevitable Firewalk , the COST, the LOCALIZATION and the INTEGRATION.
Till now negotiations are going on a positive side with GoF approving for ICDs , ToTs and Localization (as per sources) .
PM Modi's visit to NICE would surely be NICE to IAF .
नभः स्पृशं दीप्तम्
JAI HIND🇮🇳
#iaf #rafale #france
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