The multi-role Rafale jets, built by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, are known for air superiority and precision strikes.
Tag: Rafale fighter jets
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India has received 26 Rafale aircraft till date, delivery of 36 more proceeding: Union govt
The multi-role Rafale jets, built by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, are known for air superiority and precision strikes.
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Like Bofors, set up JPC for Rafale deal: Digvijaya Singh to PM Narendra Modi
By PTI
INDORE: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the Rafale fighter jet deal, like the one which scrutinized the Bofors deal in the 1980s.The Rajya Sabha member alleged large-scale corruption in the form of payment of commission in the Rafale deal.
“France has started a probe in the Rafale case, but in India, where commission was paid, no inquiry is being conducted. If one compares the Rafale deal with the Bofors case, the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had, on his own, constituted a JPC,” Singh said.
“If Modi has courage, he should constitute a JPC. We have a lot of questions and will get opportunity to raise them,” the Congress leader added.
Nobody could prove a single charge against Rajiv Gandhi in the Bofors case, he said.
The Bofors scandal related to alleged payment of kickbacks in a deal to purchase howitzer guns from the Swedish manufacturer Bofors AB.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recently demanded a JPC probe into alleged corruption in the fighter jet deal.
A French judge has been appointed to lead a “highly sensitive” judicial probe into suspected “corruption” and “favouritism” in the Rs 59,000 crore Rafale deal with India, French investigative website Mediapart reported last week.
Singh, meanwhile, also hit out at the Centre over the rise in fuel prices, claiming it impacted the middle class severely at a time when the tax collection from industrialists and large corporate houses has gone down.
Modi is someone who takes decisions in haste and thinks later, he said, citing examples such as the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, demonetization and withdrawal of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
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Government has no option but to order joint parliamentary committee probe into Rafale deal: Congress
By PTI
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday asserted that the government has no option but to order a JPC probe into the allegations of corruption in the purchase of Rafale fighter jets and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence even 48 hours after an investigation in France was ordered into the deal.Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said truth cannot be silenced while former defence minister AK Antony said the the Modi government cannot escape accountability by keeping mum and alleged that it points towards a “mal-intent to hush up” alleged corruption in the deal. “Truth can’t be silenced.Unlike ‘Modia’,” Gandhi tweeted, using the hashtag “RafaleScam”.
Truth can’t be silenced. Unlike ‘Modia’.#RafaleScam pic.twitter.com/LPuSvyhlKQ
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 5, 2021He also shared a video of a journalist of French media firm Mediapart who claimed that the then French president Francois Hollande had said that the Indian government had proposed Anil Ambani’s Reliance group as a partner of Dassault in the deal.
Antony alleged that “prima facie corruption in the Rafale deal is now apparent”, as the French Public Prosecution Services has now appointed a judge to investigate “corruption, influence peddling and brazen favouritism” in the 36-aircraft Rafale deal.
“The intriguing silence of the Modi Government points towards mal-intent to hush up the corruption. The refusal of the BJP Government to probe and punish the guilty is even more astonishing, pointing towards a concerted effort to bury the scam,” the former defence minister said.
He said the series of events and documents in public records have now affirmed the stance of the Congress party about “wrongdoing and corruption” in the Rafale deal. “What is, indeed, mysterious is the fact that despite 48 hours having lapsed, the prime minister and the defence minister have decided to maintain complete silence on the ordering of corruption investigation into Rafale deal by the French Public Prosecution Services” he added.
“The simple question is why has the government chosen to remain ‘mum’? Why have the prime minister and the defence minister not come forward to react to the shocking and sensational development of a corruption probe in the Rafale deal by the Public Prosecution Services of France? “Can Modi Government escape accountability for corruption allegations by its intriguing silence? Is it not the responsibility of the Government to come forward and accept the truth,” Antony asked.
The senior Congress leader said this is even more important as 36 aircraft are being purchased by India under an inter-governmental agreement and one party to the agreement – the French government has proceeded to order an investigation through a judge. “The only way forward is to accept accountability and order a free and fair JPC probe into the entire set of facts, evidence and allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal,” he said.
Antony alleged that Prime Minister Modi went to Paris on April 10, 2015 and unilaterally announced the purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft “without going through any tender process and in complete derogation of the ‘Defence Procurement Procedure’”.
He claimed that every defence expert was shocked by this unilateral order which is India’s biggest defence deal. “It was even more surprising because there was an ongoing negotiation for the purchase of 126 Rafale aircraft in pursuance of an international tender, which envisaged 108 aircraft to be made in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and 18 aircraft to be purchased in fly-away condition,” he said.
He said this international tender for 126 aircraft also envisaged the all-important ‘transfer of technology’ to India, but till today neither the prime minister nor the BJP government has explained the reason for reducing the number of aircraft from 126 to 36 or the reason for sacrificing the transfer of technology to India.
The BJP government has also not explained the basis or the reason for enhancing the price of the 36 aircraft or for denying the offset contract to the government’s PSU, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, he said.
The BJP government has also not stated the reason for the fact that when the clearance from ‘Defence Acquisition Council’ had been given and there was an ongoing tender for which negotiations were being finalised, how could the prime minister and the government unilaterally enter into another agreement, the senior Congres leader said.
The opposition Congress has been alleging “wrongdoing” in the defence deal and had raised it as one of the main issues to target Modi during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
It has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe and is now set to escalate its attack on the government by raising the issue during the Monsoon session of Parliament from July 19. The government has denied allegations of corruption in the deal.
The BJP had on Sunday hit out at the Congress for again raising questions over the Rafale deal and sought to know why its government did not procure the fighter planes for 10 years despite a depleted squadron strength of the Indian Air Force. “Is it because the Gandhi family did not get their desired ‘commission’?” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra had said.
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More boost for IAF as three more Rafale jets arrive in India from France
By PTI
NEW DELHI: A fourth batch of three Rafale fighter jets landed in India on Wednesday evening after flying non-stop from France, in a further boost to the strike capability of the Indian Air Force.The jets were provided mid-air refuelling by air force tankers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the IAF said.
“The 4th batch of three IAF #Rafales landed on Indian soil after a direct ferry from #IstresAirBase France,” it tweeted.
The IAF also thanked the UAE air force for refuelling the Rafale jets, describing it as yet another milestone in the strong relationship between the two air forces.
The IAF did not disclose the base where the Rafale jets landed.
“Another batch of #Rafale take to the skies on non stop flight to India with mid air refueling by UAE. Indian Air power grows further,” the Indian Embassy in France tweeted earlier. With the arrival of the three jets, the size of the Rafale fleet has increased to 14.
The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, 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 at Ambala on September 10 last.
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.
The first Rafale squadron is based in Ambala air force station.
The Indian Air Force is set to raise the second squadron of the Rafale combat jets in mid-April and it will be based in Hasimara air base in West Bengal, according to military officials.
India is expected to get more Rafale jets from France in the next few months.
The Rafale jets, manufactured by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, are India’s first major acquisition of fighter planes in 23 years after the Sukhoi jets were imported from Russia.
The Rafale jets are capable of carrying a range of potent weapons.
European missile maker MBDA’s Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile, Scalp cruise missile and MICA weapons system will be the mainstay of the weapons package of the Rafale jets.