To add muscle to Indian Air Force, the second batch of Rafale jets, meant to add muscle to the Indian Air Force, has arrived in India after flying non-stop from France. Four jets were expected to arrive from France in the second lot.
The first batch of five jets had arrived in India on July 29 — nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 of these aircraft at a cost of ₹ 59,000 crore.
The jets — the first western combat aircraft to join the fleet 23 years after the Sukhoi aircraft from Russia — had landed to a special water cannon salute at the Ambala air base.
“Welcome home ‘Golden Arrows’. Blue skies always,” the Indian Air Force tweeted with a photo of the Rafales in the “Arrow formation”.