A Rafale jet at the show

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

Bangalore, February 15

Even as the delivery of the newly acquired fighter aircraft, the Rafale, is scheduled to commence from September 2019, its maker, the Dassault Aviation France, is expecting a bigger order to supplement ‘Make in India’ efforts.Last year, India ordered 36 twin-engine Rafale jets for 7.8 billion euros, the first major induction since the Sukhoi-30 jets started coming in batches since 1997 onwards.Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier said: “We are pushing for more orders… the existing order of 36 is not big enough to have transfer of technology”. The plan is to be in India, he said, adding “India should be ready to be part of the global supply market”.The company, he said, was in race for the additional twin-engine fighter jets needed by the IAF as well as the Navy’s requirement of 57 jets for ship deck-based operations. Yesterday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had announced that 300-400 jets (single engine and twin engine) are needed by the IAF over the next 10 years. On being asked what could be an ideal number for making in India, Trappier pointed to the original tender that was for 126 twin-engine jets. “It will be good if we get an order of some 200, including the 36 of the existing IAF order and 57 that the Navy needs,” Trappier said.