Rafale would have skewed odds in India’s favour during dogfight

Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said that the results of the 27^th February dog fight would be in our favour if we had the Rafale combat air craft. The Air Chief acknowledged that the presence of the Rafale would have made a difference in impact during the air strikes in Balakot. The results could be further moved in favour of India if the Rafale had been in the Airforce inventory.

The Air Chief Marshal said “The results would have been further skewed in our favour had we inducted our Rafale aircraft in time” The Chief further said that technology and strategy, both were in the favour of India. The accuracy and precision were good because we have an upgraded Mig-21 and Mirage-2000 aircraft. It would have been better if there was the Rafale combating aircraft to use in the air strikes.

The Chief has expressed concerns over the delay in Rafale reaching the Airforce inventory. The Light Combat Aircraft deal was introduced first in the UPA government regime, and faced many controversies including the biggest defence scam. The proposal was delayed due to the busting of the scam. There were 6 bidders in the race to secure a deal with IAF.  An extensive evaluation was done after which Dassault won the deal defeating Eurofighter. The Congress Party government delayed the proposal even though Rafale had already won the deal in 2012. The NDA government came in power and signed the deal with the French company. The NDA government cited the urgent requiement of the aircrafts by the Air Force as reasons for quick proceeding in the  Rafale deal. 

The well known AgustaWestland Chopper deal which came in bad light for lobbying politicians and allegedly the IAF officials also during UPA regime, have 21% share in Eurofighter. AgustaWestland paid bribes to officials and middlemen to secure that particular deal. The Enforcement Directorate named Sonia Gandhi and Ahmad Patel who are top Congress leaders in the chargesheet along with the main accused of the AgustaWestland case, Christian Michel. The question raised by the Modi government is, if the hurdles created by the Congress Party leaders in the Rafale deal are because they wanted Eurofighter to get the deal.

The idea behind the delay by the Congress Party is clear. The party indirectly supported the Eurofighter whose shares were owned by AgustaWestland. The party leaders were allegedly involved in the scam. The controversies created by Congress in the Rafale deal were to cover their own mistakes.

The Supreme Court has given a “go ahead” to the Rafale deal. The judgement went against the Congress propaganda for further delaying Rafale. The NDA worked effectively to bring the Rafale deal and cater to needs of the Indian Air Force.