This Tuesday, India received the first delivery of 36 Rafales ordered three years ago from France. The ceremony took place at the fighter aircraft assembly site at the Dassault Aviation factory in Mérignac, in the presence of French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly and her counterpart from Indian Defence.

In front of a Rafale bearing a cockade in Indian colors, Indian Minister Rajnat Singh welcomed a “historic day for Indian armed forces”. Earlier, he visited the hall, at full speed, where four Rafales bound for New Delhi were being assembled. Three Rafales have been built, but will only reach India in May, after the first pilot training is completed. Deliveries will last until 2022.

Aircraft that take a long time to export

Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier highlighted this “a unique and strong strategic relationship that unites our two countries”adding that the device had “developed specifically to meet the highly demanding requirements of the Indian Air Force”. This device is expected “can not wait” in India. The impatience is due to the aging of the Indian Air Force's diverse fleet as well as the many twists and turns that have occurred since the call for international tenders was launched in 2007.

Used by the French Air Force since 2004, the Rafale has long had difficulty being exported. The fighter first found export buyers in 2015 in Egypt and then in Qatar, who each ordered 24 units. Doha exercised an option in December 2017 to add 12 Rafales, bringing the number of aircraft to be used by the country's air force to 36.