Rajnath Singh gives Rafale timeline; upholds indigenisation push on privatisation question

Defence Minister of India Rajnath Singh while speaking in Rajya Sabha on Monday said that 11 Rafale aircraft have arrived in India, while the entire batch of aircraft will come to India by April 2022. While responding to a question posed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Mahesh Poddar in Rajya Sabha, the Defence Minister of India informed that by March 2021, India will have 17 Rafale aircraft. 

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Rajnath Singh: '101 items to be manufactured in India'

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Answering a question raised by All India Trinamool Congress MP Dr Santanu Sen on "any probability of privatisation of a few aspects of the Defence in coming days?", Rajnath Singh said that India is emphasising on indigenisation and so far it has already chosen 101 items that won't be imported from other nations and instead will be manufactured in India by the Indians. 

India inducts Rafale Fighters

In a boost to its strike capability, the IAF received the first batch of five Rafale jets in July last year, nearly four years after the government inked an agreement with France to procure 36 of the aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore. The second batch of three Rafale fighter jets joined the IAF in November.

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The Rafale jets, manufactured by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, are India's first major acquisition of fighter planes in 23 years after the Sukhoi jets were imported from Russia. The newly inducted fleet has been carrying out sorties in eastern Ladakh. 

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