Vikrant Shekhawat : Nov 21, 2019, 09:58 AM
New Delhi: The government said on Wednesday that France has made 3 Rafale jets available to the Indian Air Force. They are being used in the training of Indian Air Force pilots and technicians. This information was given by Shripad Naik, Minister of State for Defense in the Lok Sabha. Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had acquired the first Rafale jet at the airbase in France on 8 October. The first batch of four Rafale jets will reach India by May 2020. In September 2016, India and France signed a deal of Rs 58 thousand crore for 36 Rafale jets.NDA government made Rafael deal 2.86% less price However, Naik did not say when the remaining 2 Rafale jets were delivered to India. According to Naik, a deal was struck by the UPA government over the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) deal, which was discussed until early 2014, but it did not materialize. In the subsequent deal, the price of Rafale jet was 2.86% lower.Congress accused of irregularities in Rafale dealThe Congress had accused the Modi government of irregularities in the Rafale deal. The Congress had alleged that the deal finalized by the UPA government for Rs 526 crore was decided by the Modi government for Rs 1670 crore. In this regard, Minister of State Naik said - It is clear in the CAG report that the deal made on 36 Rafale is more advanced than before, it can prove to be better than the previous deal.