NEW DELHI – Indian Air Force (IAF) will start getting the Dasault Rafalefighters in a fly-way condition from September 2019. All the 36 Rafalefighters will be inducted into the IAF by April 2022.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply in the RajyaSabha on Monday that the Rafale will come equoppped with “associatedequipment and weapons. “As per the Inter-Governmental Agreement, signedbetween the Government of India and the Government of French Republic,delivery of 36 Rafale aircraft in a fly-away condition along withassociated equipment and weapons will commence from September 2019 and willbe completed by April 2022. The project is progressing as per schedule,”she said in a written reply to Amma Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh.

India had announced that it was buying 36 Rafale fighters from France forRs 58,000 crore after signing a government-to-government deal in 2016 whenPrime Minister Narendra Modi was in Paris.

However, the deal has sparked off a controversy with Congress accusing theModi government of not explaining the rationale behind the pricing of thejets.

France, on the other hand, wants India to buy more jets. According to thePress Trust of India, France is keen to sell 36 more Rafales to India afterthe first lot of 36 jets is delivered.

The IAF must have 42 squadrons to ensure it is prepared for a simultaneouswar with China and Pakistan. But at present, the IAF has only 31 squadronsof fighter aircraft. There are 11 squadrons of the frontline Su-30MKI,three each of the MiG-29 and Mirage 2000, six Jaguar and six MiG-21Bisonsquadrons apart from two upgraded MiG-27 squadrons. The force has alreadyordered three more Su-30MKI and two Dassault Rafale squadrons along withtwo squadrons of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas MK 1.