Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is set to receive the first of the 3 Rafale fighter jets at a ceremony in Paris on October 8. However, the remaining of the first batch of jets will arrive in India only by April-May 2020. Meanwhile, three batches of eight IAF pilots, along with engineers and technicians, will undergo advanced training on the fighter jets in France.
In September 2016, India inked an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with France for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of 7.87-billion (approximately Rs 59,000 crore).
Ever since, questions have been raised about the cost agreed on for the aircraft and the choice of Anil Ambani’s firm, the Reliance Defence Ltd (RDL), as the offset partner, over the experienced Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).
While the Congress and other opposition parties alleged massive irregularities in the deal, the BJP-led government, which signed the agreement with France in 2016, denied the allegations. And the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to the Union government in December 2018, saying it did not find any wrongdoing in the defence deal.
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