The first five Rafale fighter jets arrived in India on Wednesday. The country bought 36 jets from French manufacturer Dassault in a $9.4 billion defence deal. All of the Radale jets are expected to arrive in India by the end of 2021. The national spotlight on the combat jets has been amplified by a deadly border standoff with China in June, which left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
A water-cannon guard of honour greeted the five jets when they landed at the Ambala air base in Haryana state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed the jets arrival in a post on Twitter.
He said: “There is no sacrifice like the national defence; there is no good deed like the national defence; there is no practice like national defence.”
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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also praised the fighter jets in a series of tweets.
He said that their arrival marked “the beginning of a new era in our military history”.
Mr Singh also said that the new jet will make the Indian Air Force “much stronger to deter any threat that may be posed on our country”.
He added: “If it is anyone who should be worried about or critical about this new capability of the Indian Air Force, it should be those who want to threaten our territorial integrity.”
The purchase of the Rafale jets is one of many deals made by India to bolster it’s 1.4 million strong military following the conflict.
India has accepted that it is behind China and other key nations in military power.
Sameer Patil, an international security studies expert at the Gateway House think-tank, claimed the jet purchase was a “much-needed capacity booster” for the Indian military.
He added: “It will help India to deal with the heightened nature of the Chinese threat, as it becomes clear that the current territorial stand-off in Ladakh will stretch into the winter months.”
The French jets also mark a departure for India, who usually purchase Russian defence equipment.
But the deal was met with cries of corruption from India’s main opposition Congress party.
The government strongly denied that any misconduct had taken place in the purchase.
A top court has also said there was no evidence of corruption sufficient for an investigation.