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IAF chief to flag off Rafale jets during France visit
Why is it in news?
- The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria, will flag off the next batch of Rafale fighter jets to India.
- Air Chief Marshal is on a five-day visit to France.
Details:
- The newly flagged jets, once inducted into service, will complete the first Rafale squadron- No. 17 ‘Golden Arrows’ based in Ambala.
- India will receive another eight or nine Rafale jets from France by mid-May.
- The IAF has so far inducted 14 jets, which arrived in four batches.
- IAF would operationalise the second Rafale squadron at Hasimara in West Bengal.
- Last September, the IAF inducted the batch of five Rafales of 36 jets contracted from France.
- India had signed worth €7.87 billion Inter-Governmental Agreement with France in September 2016.
Source: The Hindu.