THE first of the long-awaited 36 Rafale fighter jets ordered from France has been received by India which has spent a whopping $8.78 billion on this expensive deal signed in 2016.

The deal was not controversy-free, for the Indian National Congress, the main opposition party, denounced the ruling BJP government for buying these sophisticated aircraft at nearly three times the price it was negotiating in 2014 when in power.

More of these twin-engine delta-wing multi-role warplanes are scheduled to reach India by May 2020 and the order will be completed by 2022. One of the two squadrons will be stationed at Ambala in Indian Punjab, facing Pakistan and the other in West Bengal.

Of recent, the Modi government has been on a huge arms-buying spree including S-400 missile system from Russia, heavy-lift Chinook helicopters and Apache 64 HD choppers from the US.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has claimed that the acquisition of Rafale jet fighters along with S-400 missiles will further bolster the country’s defence from perceived threats by Pakistan and China.

Clearly stung by the loss of Mig-21 Bison as well as Sukhoi SU-30 to PAF earlier in February this year in the wake of the Pulwama incident, the Indians are aiming to have an upper hand over Pakistan.

But that would remain a distant dream given the professional capabilities, expertise and skills of PAF pilots.

Fawad Hashmey

Lahore

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2019