India Says It Received 1st Batch of French Fighter Jets

World

July 29th, 11:29am

Asharq Al-Awsat

FILE PHOTO: Indian Minister of Defense Shri Rajnath Singh speaks to the media after the 2019 US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue at the State Department in Washington, US, December 18, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

The first batch of five French-made Rafale fighter jets arrived at an Indian air force base on Wednesday, Indian officials said. The planes landed at the airbase in Ambala in Haryana state amid tight security. Police and soldiers closed roads leading to the base, banned photography and enforced restrictions on gatherings of more than four people, police officer Abhishek Jorwal said. “The birds have landed safely in Ambala,” Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted. "If anyone should be worried about or critical about this new capability ... it should be those who want to threaten our territorial integrity.” Indian and Chinese soldiers are locked in a tense stand-off along their disputed border in Ladakh region, while Indian troops regularly clash with Pakistani soldiers along their de facto frontier in disputed Kashmir, which is also claimed by Pakistan, The Associated Press reported. The fighter jets are part of a $8.78 billion deal signed with France in 2016. They are to be formally inducted in the Indian air force by mid-August. India has become the world’s biggest arms importer as it modernizes its military. The defense deals also come amid heightened tensions along the disputed frontier with China in Ladakh, where New Delhi has sent reinforcements of fighter jets and military equipment after hand-to-hand combat between Indian and Chinese soldiers on June 15 left 20 Indians dead.

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