With the arrival of the three jets, the size of the Rafale fleet has increased to 14.
'Rafale is much more advanced and lethal than the current fighter aircraft available with China. The timing of the arrival of the jets is perfect'
The Rafales could begin combat operations by September-October, reports Ajai Shukla.
In a tweet, the IAF welcomed the "new bird" into its arsenal.
Sources said a high-level team of the Indian Air Force is already in Paris to coordinate with the French officials on the handing over ceremony.
Surjewala said shocking revelations have brought out lies of Sitharaman about the award of Rs 30,000 crore 'defence offset contract' to Reliance Defence as part of this deal.
"There is no doubt any longer that Rafale aircraft deal deserves to be examined thoroughly by a joint parliamentary committee. Congress reiterates its demand for constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee," he said, citing a newspaper report that claimed the Modi government's decision to buy 36 jets, instead of 126 planned earlier, jack up the price of each aircraft.
The defence ministry stressed that the purchase of 36 Rafales was 'strictly in accordance with the Defence Procurement Procedure in all aspects.' However, the DPP-mandated process had not been gone through when Modi announced the agreement on April 10, 2015,' observes Ajai Shukla.
Is it Rs 300 billion or Rs 66 billion or Rs 33.12 billion?
He accused Jaitley of having the ability to spin "two truths or lies" with "fake self-righteousness" and "indignation to defend the indefensible".
The fleet landed at Al Dhafra airbase on Monday in the United Arab Emirates after flying for over seven hours from the Merignac airbase. It was the only stopover by the jets while flying from France to India.
In his PIL, Sharma alleged discrepancies in the fighter jet deal with France and sought stay on it.
A third batch of three more Rafale fighter jets on Wednesday landed in India from France after a non-stop flight, in a further boost to the strike capability of the Indian Air Force.
The disagreement over liability further complicates any early conclusion of the Rafale contract.
Defence Ministry says the report is being verified, maintaining that neither Indian nor French government had any say in the decision.
Gandhi has been attacking the BJP government for allegedly inking the deal at a much higher price than the one the previous United Progressive Alliance regime had negotiated to benefit 'one businessman'.
'Allegations of Reliance benefitting by thousands of crores is a figment of imagination, promoted by vested interests'
Macron, who assumed the presidency in May 2017, emphasised that this is a government-to-government discussion and "this contract is part of a broader framework which is military and defence" coalition between India and France.
The plea also seeks details of comparative prices during UPA and NDA rule.
A three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprising of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph said that it was not their job to go into the issue of pricing of the fighter planes.
Delivery of a great operational machine must not get affected to settle political scores, says Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd).
"Swagatam" (welcome), he said with the hash tag "RafaleInIndia".
The ceremony to hand over the first Rafale jet will take place on October 8, the foundation day of the Indian Air Force, the sources said.
Chidambaram said he feels that Dassault 'is laughing all the way to the bank', as the NDA government gave a 'gift'.
The Congress chief also described Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's 3-day trip to France as part of a 'huge cover-up' by the government.
Pointing out at the 'cooperation' and 'trust' shared between both India and France, Ambassador of France to India Alexandre Ziegler asked people to look at the facts.
Five Rafale fighter aircraft arrived in India from France on July 29 and have started extensive training within 24 hours of touching down in the country. The French-origin fighter aircraft are part of the 17 Golden Arrows squadron of the Indian Air Force.
The report noted that the 2007 UPA deal included a 15 per cent bank guarantee against advance payments.
The BJP said, in a statement, that its workers held protests in district headquarters across the country, with its national general secretary Arun Singh leading the stir in Bhubaneswar, Maharashtra party chief Chandrakant Patil in Mumbai and Bihar unit president Sanjay Jaiswal in Patna, among other places.
The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 of the aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.
Singh is leaving for Paris on a three-day visit, primarily to receive the first of 36 Rafale fighter jets
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday.
The political row had erupted after the National Democratic Alliance government inked the Rs 59,000-crore deal on September 23, 2016 to procure 36 Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation after a nearly seven-year exercise to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft for the Indian Air Force did not fructify during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime.
Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said that no country in the world is facing the kind of grave threat that India is confronted with.
'So far there is no clear money trail nor an indisputable smoking gun.' 'But that doesn't mean there aren't disturbing questions and a strange resistance by the government to reveal the price, which only adds suspicion to concern,' observes Karan Thapar.
The 2019 Paris Air Show will run until Sunday at Le Bourget Airport.
With the arrival of the new batch, the number of Rafale aircraft has increased to eight. The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.
'The greatest loss from replacing the 126 Rafale proposal with the 2016 contract for 36 Rafales might not be the extra money paid, but the opportunity that India's aerospace industry lost of obtaining access to critical aviation technologies and manufacturing skills.'
'No sovereign guarantee, no bank guarantee, no escrow account, yet a huge amount was paid as advance'
While reserving the verdict, the apex court had said that the pricing details of Rafale jets could only be discussed after it decides on whether to make it public.
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