IAF fighter aircraft Rafale flies past Yelahanka air base during the inauguration of the 13th edition of Aero India in Bengaluru.
Three more Rafale fighter jets will join land in India today. The fighter jets will join the Golden Arrows Squadron in Ambala.The jets will fly directly from France and will be provided mod-air refuelling by the UAE.
These fighter jets will land in Gujarat at 7 PM on Wednesday. The fresh induction will take the squadron's strength to 14. A squadron comprises around 18 aircraft.
The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29 last year, 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. The formal induction ceremony of the fleet had taken place in Ambala.
A second batch of three Rafale jets arrived in India on November 3 while a third batch of another three jets joined the IAF on January 27 this year.
India is expected to get more Rafale jets from France in the next couple of months. The next batch of nine Rafale fighter jets will be coming in April. Out of these, five will be inducted at Hashimara airbase in West Bengal.
The twin-engine Rafale jets are India's first major acquisition of fighter planes in 23 years after the Sukhoi jets were imported from Russia.
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