India Receives First Rafale Jet From France - Controversy Remains Over $8.8 Billion Contract

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has met his French counterpart Florence Parly at the Dassault Aviation facility in southwestern France to receive the first Rafale twin engine medium-weight fighter for the Indian Air Force. India is set to receive 35 further Rafale fighters under a highly controversial $8.8 billion contract, which has sparked a major corruption scandal domestically and repeated criticisms for its poor cost effectiveness. The Rafale is a ‘4+ generation’ fighter which, despite its cost, is widely considered less capable than existing platforms in Indian service - namely the Su-30MKI which currently forms the bulk of the Indian fleet and comes at a small fraction of the French fighter’s cost. These include parameters such as manoeuvrability, speed, range, altitude, weapons payload, sensors and engagement range - with the Rafale’s only advantages considered to be its lower radar signature and possibly its electronic warfare systems. With electronic warfare systems and sensors on the Su-30MKI set to be upgraded however, these small advantages are unlikely to remain by the time the Rafale delivery is complete.

It is notable that of the three countries which have placed orders for Rafale fighters, all are thought to have purchased the aircraft for political reasons with two, Egypt and India, having major corruption scandals surrounding the contracts. France’s Dassault Aviation is notably bidding for a contract to provide over 100 additional Rafale fighters to India under the MMRCA competition. It faces some harsh competition from jets such as the Eurofighter, a similar design with all-around superior capabilities, as well as newer and more advanced platforms such as the MiG-35 and Su-35. With India planning the retirement of its ageing Mirage 2000 jets in the 2020s, and potentially the retirement of its Jaguar attack jets due to the extreme costs of planned upgrades, the Rafale will likely emerge as the only Western combat jets in service by the mid-late 2020s as India looks to its own indigenous fighters and more cost effective fighters from Russia to expand its air fleet.