India to get its 36th Rafale by Dec 15

New Delhi, Nov 09: The 36th and final Rafale fighter jet from France will come to India by December 15, according to news agency ANI.

"The last aircraft will arrive in India around December 15. The aircraft was used for developing the India-specific enhancements in the Rafale fleet of the Indian Air Force," ANI quoted senior defence officials as saying.

The deal was signed for 36 planes out of which 35 have already been delivered and stationed at Ambala, Haryana and Hashimara in West Bengal.The 36th aircraft with RB tail number has been provided to the Indian side by France with all its spares and other parts replaced as it was being used for developmental activities, the officials added.

Out of 36 Rafale jets, 30 will be fighter jets and six will be trainers. The trainer jets will be twin-seater and they will have almost all the features of the fighter jets

On the other hand, the Indian Air Force has been upgrading the planes to the highest standards and has been equipped with all India-specific enhancements.

The multirole Rafale jets, built by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, are known for air-superiority and precision strikes. The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 of the aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore, according to a PTI report.

It was inducted into the IAF after the the border issue intensified with China and it was operating over Ladakh within a week.

The Rafale jets are India's first major acquisition of fighter planes in 23 year after the Sukhoi jets were imported from Russia

The Rafale jets are capable of carrying a range of potent weapons. European missile maker MBDA's Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile and Scalp cruise missile will be the mainstay of the weapons package of the Rafale jets.