The first batch of five Rafelf fighteraircraft on Monday took off from France for India, nearly four years after the two countries inked an inter-governmental agreement to supply 36 of the multi-role jets to the Indian Air Force under a Rs 59,000-crore deal.
The aircraft flew out from the Merignac airbase in French port city of Bordeaux and will cover a distance of nearly 7,000 km with air-to-air refuelling and a single stop in the United Arab Emirates before arriving at Ambala airbase on Wednesday, officials said.
You can call them (Rafale) both beauty and the beast," said Indian Ambassador to France Jawed Ashraf after interacting with the IAF pilots at the airbase before they set off for India.
In the evening, officials said all five Rafales landed safely in Al Dhafra airbase in the UAE after a sortie in excess of seven hours.
The fleet, comprising three single seater and two twin seater aircraft, is scheduled to arrive at Ambala airbase on Wednesday when they will be officially inducted into the Indian Air Force as part of its No 17 Squadron, also known as the “Golden Arrows”, said an IAF official.
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