After five Rafale fighter Jets arrived at the Ambala Air Force Station on July 29, IAF will be formally inducting as the part of 17 Squadron named as ‘Golden Sparrow’.
The ceremony will be attended Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly.
At 10.00 AM tomorrow, #Rafale aircraft will be formally inducted into @IAF_MCC at the Air Force Station in Ambala. The aircraft will be part of 17 Squadron, the “Golden Arrows”. The Rafale jets are India's first major acquisition of fighter planes in more than two decades.
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 9, 2020
These are the first batch of five Jets of total 36 aircrafts. These 36 Aircrafts inter-governmental deal has been signed by France and India in September 2016 for Rs 59,000 crore.
Since the aircrafts have arrived the focus has been shifted on to its operational activity and rigorous training of pilots and ground crew. Pilots and crew had undergone comprehensive trainings on the Aircraft including high advanced weapon systems.
General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Defence Staff and Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal K S Bhadauria as per Air Force said in a statement “present to mark a very important milestone in the history of the IAF” on Wednesday.
From Parly’s side, the French delegation will include France’s ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain, Air General Eric Autellet, Vice Chief of Air Staff of the French Air Force, among other senior officials, and Eric Trappier, the chief executive of Dassault Aviation, the French company that manufactures Rafale.
One of his first official trip to India since Coronavirus break and third since 2017 to India. Defence Minister indicated about the bilateral talks between the delegates after the induction ceremony. Parly can also scheduled to meet National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
“These talks will further President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to deepen and expand the Indo-French partnership, with strategic autonomy and the defence of a multipolar order as its cornerstones,” the French embassy said in a statement. On the occasion Parly will “strengthen France’s forward-looking defence cooperation with India, its foremost Asian strategic partner”, it added.
According to French Embassy, the talks will be broad-ranging comprising industrial and technological partnership in line with “Make In India”; operational defence cooperation as well as Maritime security in the Indo-Pacific; joint exercises of Armed Forces in the context of Covid19 Pandemic; Counter Terrorism Cooperation and major Regional and International issues.
The ceremony at Ambala will include a ceremonial unveiling of the Rafale aircraft, a traditional ‘Sarva Dharma Puja’, Air Display by Rafale and Tejas aircraft as well as by ‘Sarang Aerobatic Team’, IAF Team said.
It will be followed by the traditional cannon salute for the fighter Jets. Golden Arrows, which was raised at Ambala in October 1951, was resurrected in September 2019 for the new aircraft.
Read also: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to induct Rafale jet on September 10 officially
