IAF to induct first Rafale jet on Sept 19, Rajnath Singh may visit France

New Delhi: France will formally hand over first Rafale jet to Indian Air Force on September 19, officials said on Tuesday. The formal induction ceremony will be held at Merignac in France and will be attended by IAF chief BS Dhanoa. Defence minister Rajnath Singh is also likely to travel to France for the ceremony.

While the formal induction will happen on September 19, the first batch of four jets will fly to their home base in India only in next April-May. All the 36 fighter jets will arrive by September 2022.

India ordered 36 Rafale jets from France in a deal worth Rs 59,000 crore on September 23, 2016 — a deal that was at the centre of a political controversy in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.