IAF Chief wished if India had Rafales in dogfight against PAF to change the final results
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NEW DELHI - Indian Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Monday while commenting on Pakistani jets entry Indian airspace on February 27 said the favourable result could have been more decisive had the Indian Air Force inducted Rafale jets in time.
Highlighting Pakistani jets strike the IAF chief said that Rafale jets could have been even more effective. "The results would have been skewed in our favour had we inducted our Rafale aircraft in time," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI while delivering the Arjan Singh memorial lecture here.
Pakistani jets had crossed into Indian airspace after Indian failed strike in Balakot. "Post our strike on training camp, to thwart impending strike on our soil, PAF launched a riposte on 27 Feb against Indian military targets.
India had scrambled Mig-21 Bison and Mirage-2000 fighter jets against a PAF fighter contingent
Dhanoa credited the success to the fact that both Mig-21 Bisons and the Mirage-2000 had been upgraded. He however said that Rafale could have made an even bigger impact in the dogfight.
India's purchase of 36 Rafale jets in fly-away condition from France's Dassault Aviation has been under a shroud of controversy with Congress accusing the government of - among others - paying an inflated price. The government has maintained that it is a false accusation while also highlighting the need for the twin-engine Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA).
