The Indian Air Force has just taken delivery of its first combat aircraft Dassault Rafale. The aircraft is part of an order for 36 copies, made in 2016 after a very long selection process. The whole Rafale aircraft will be delivered within three years.
The Indian Air Force has officially received its first ever Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft on Tuesday, October 8. The aircraft is part of an order for 36 copies made in 2016 after a very long selection process. These 36 Dassault Rafales will all be assembled in France and then be shipped to India over a period of three years. If India's order for additional batches materializes, combat aircraft will be assembled in India as part of the “Make in India” policy launched by the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The handover ceremony, organized at the Dassault Aviation site in Bordeaux-Mérignac, was chaired by Eric Trappier, Dassault Aviation Chairman and CEO, high patronage of Shri Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defense of India, and Ms. Florence Parly, Minister of the Armed Forces of France.
Dassault Aviation, and over twenty French companies, have already supported the “Make in India” policy by establishing several sites in India. The most recent initiatives being those of the groups Ametra and Latécoère. As for Dassault Aviation, besides the construction of the production facility in Nagpur, it is also involved in the establishment of an engineering center in Pune, the creation of the “Dassault Skill Academy” and the implementation of a professional training program “Aeronautical Structure and Equipment Fitter”.