*AHMEDABAD* : Former IAF Chief BS Dhanoa on Sunday said the Rafale fighterjet that India is buying from France is half-a-generation ahead of aircraftin the inventories of two of India’s adversaries, China and Pakistan.
India is buying 36 Rafale jets from France and the first batch of fourplanes would start arriving in May this year.
“As I earlier said, Rafale is 0.5 generation ahead of aircraft that arethere with two of our adversaries,” he said while addressing a gatheringhere.
The former Air Chief was replying to a question on how the Rafale willenhance the strength of IAF.
Referring to the aerial skirmish between Indian and Pakistan on February 27last year after Balakot airstrike, Dhanoa, who was heading the IAF then,said: “The combat of 27 (Feb 27)…it was Beyond Visual Range (BVR) combat.In BVR combat, the most important thing is to look first and shoot first.For that your sensors, your data fusion, how is the capability of yourair-to-air missile…can you shoot first? In that, Rafale gives you adistinct advantage.”
The former IAF Chief said the results would have been different in theaerial skirmish if we had Rafale fighter jet.
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“As the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) too had earlier said if we hadRafale on 27 (Feb 27), the results would have been different,” he said.
Commenting on the number of casualties in Balakot airstrike, the former IAFChief said: “We technically measure how many targets you had to hit and howmany you were able to hit. We can’t count casualties. This is the input ofintelligence agencies. I won’t comment on that.”
Asked if he got some “idea” from intelligence agencies about the same, hesaid, “If I have got it, it is in the classified domain, I can’t share itwith you. If that information has to be declassified, only the source whoprovided that info can do it, not us.”
