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New Delhi:
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh welcomed contingent of Rafale plane that reached Ambala as we speak in a sequence of tweets through which he additionally thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the French producer of the plane Dassault and congratulated the Indian Air Force. He didn’t neglect the critics both, warning that anybody “worried about or critical” could be “those who want to threaten our territorial integrity”.
“The Rafale jets were purchased when they fully met the operational requirements of the IAF. The baseless allegations against this procurement have already been answered and settled,” one of many tweets learn. Mr Singh didn’t title the Congress, which had focused the federal government over the acquisition forward of final yr’s Lok Sbaha polls, accusing it of corruption and crony capitalism.
The 5 Rafale fighter jets, accompanied by two Sukhoi-30s, entered the Indian airspace this morning and landed in Ambala shortly after three pm. The Russian-made Sukhoi-30s had been the final fighter jets made overseas that had been inducted into the Air Force. Over the previous couple of years, the indigenous Tejas fighters have been added to the fleet.
The authorities had inked the Rs 59,000-crore deal to obtain 36 Rafale jets from French aerospace main Dassault Aviation in September 2016.
“The Rafale jets were purchased only because PM Shri @narendramodi took the right decision to get these aircrafts through an Inter-Governmental Agreement with France, after the long pending procurement case for them could not progress. I thank him for his courage & decisiveness,” Rajnath Singh tweeted.
In one other tweet he counseled the efficiency of the Rafale jets, saying they’ve a “very good flying performance” and its weapons, radar and different sensors and Electronic Warfare capabilities are “amongst the best in the world”.
The arrival of Rafales, he mentioned, “will make the IAF much stronger to deter any threat that may be posed on our country”.
The new fleet shall be inducted into the IAF this afternoon as a part of the No 17 Squadron of the Air Force, also called the “Golden Arrows”.
“I congratulate the IAF on a professionally executed ferry. I am sure that 17 Squadron, the Golden Arrows, will continue to live upto their motto of “Udayam Ajasram”. I am extremely happy that IAF’s combat capability has got a timely boost,” a tweet from the minister learn.
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